A SUPPLEMENT TO THE MINERALOGICAL RECORD
Tourmaline - Cruzeiro Mne, Brazil; 18 cm. Beth Van Allen Photo
August 22-25, 2019
Symposium talks now available for free online streaming! WWW.DALLASSYMPOSIUM.ORG/VIDEOS
2019 Dallas Symposium Speakers Gem Crystals: Pegmatite Pocket Formation and Survival Dr. Thomas Campbell An Inside View of Major Tourmaline Mines & Ouro Preto Topaz Edward Boehm The Origin of Gem Deposits: New Theories John Saul Adventures in Brazil Jeff Scovil Illuminations: Gemstones as Art Paula Crevoshay Hunting Colombian Emeralds Monte Zajicek Rutilated Quartz and Brazil Paraiba Tourmaline Brian Cook Jonas Mine Tourmaline Discovery Richard Freeman Gem Hunting in Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia Thomas Nagin
Our Generous Sponsors A special thanks goes out to all of our sponsors. Without their support, we would never be able to make this happen! Founding Sponsor
A
THE
rkenstone www.iRocks.com
Supporting Sponsors
We are pleased to share this Souvenir Program of our Dallas Symposium and thank all who attended over the last years as we go into year 10! If you could not attend, please enjoy watching lectures from previous years, now offered for free online. Guests enjoyed a private reception in the Perot Museum, a welcome party at The Arkenstone Gallery, talks by world-class speakers, with a banquet and benefit auction to wrap up a “mineral weekend” surrounded by other collectors and experts in the field.
Watch the Talks BlueCap Productions documents the Dallas Symposium each year. Previously talks were distributed via DVD, but we’re excited to switch to free online streaming for more flexible viewing.
WWW.DALLASSYMPOSIUM.ORG/VIDEOS
The Arkenstone Open House Friday Evening
Lectures and Banquet SATURDAY
Forewords
The Natural Connection Between Minerals and Gems Gemstones come from crystals, and the challenge to find crystals and bring them out to market is still very much like the Wild West in some ways! You will hear and see some firsthand stories today, from people who go to the source to bring us these beauties. All of these stories tie together to a common theme. Gems and minerals, although seemingly different in the historic public perception of assets and value, are simply two sides of the same natural miracle. These are treasures of immense antiquity and astounding rarity that formed in the ground, at depth of many miles, during the formation of supercontinents and mountain ranges. This is hard for most people to digest; that their gems and jewelry is made of stuff older than the dinosaurs. Those of us who have collected and obsessed over Mineral Specimens often feel like we collect the poor leftovers of the Gem World, and we are much more removed from the public eye. However, I see that perception changing rapidly over the last few decades, and I feel that the time has finally come when Fine Mineral Specimens should be perceived as an art class in their own right - in fact as even more valuable, rare, and
Forewords unique than the gemstones that can be carved from some of them. These two “worlds” are connected intimately, and we can use the psychological allure of gem value and the immense professional and educational resources of that world, to help transform and propel fine mineral collecting into a higher level of the public consciousness - both for collectors like ourselves, and for museums that can use the beauty of nature as a gateway to educate and inspire (which is the philosophy of Dallas’ own Perot Museum of Nature and Science). While Gemstones link civilizations across time, Crystals seem, to those of us who collect them, to be an even more profound item of “Nature’s Art” that transcends both cultures and nations (and even, the end of nations). Sadly, most have been destroyed throughout human history, to furnish us the raw materials for both man-made art using raw materials as coloring agents, and of modern civilization itself (materials and metals). Even as collecting minerals remained largely underground on a hobbyist level, the gemstone market has acquired much more sophistication and growth over the years, particularly since the 1981 founding of AGTA (American Gem Trade Association) for the joint educational marketing of colored stones (note that the family of one of our speakers today was instrumental in this development). The Association’s first three presidents (Leon Ritzler, Roland Naftule and Ray Zajicek) were also the founding members who rallied like-minded gemstone dealers in smoky Tucson hotel rooms in 1981 to discuss the creation of a new trade show and organization...The AGTA has (now) become the voice for the colored gemstone industry. (AGTA.org) It is time to try to push these seemingly different worlds, the Gems and the Mineral Collector/Museum community, together; and to use the shared stories of common origins to educate and inspire. There are people here today from the “Gem World” and people from the “Mineral World” to see talks about the same locations. We need to USE each other’s resources to expand both fields, and use the common beauty as a “Gateway Drug” to bring more people into appreciating Nature, and patronizing our museums of nature and science. Using the link between Gems and Crystals can empower both markets as assets for collectors. This symbiosis and synergy can also enable a new generation of museums to reach and engage people about nature and science in a new way, by connecting the familiar appreciation of Gems and Jewels to Natural Art. -Dr. Robert Lavinsky
Artistic rendition of the BambĂşrro pocket, found 1978. The specimens are shown to scale. Painting by Wendell Wilson, commissioned by Keith Proctor in 1985.
Dr. Tom Campbell
Tom is the staff mineralogist for The Arkenstone and an independent exploration consultant for the gold mining industry. He has a passion for and research interest in granite pegmatites and specializes in their geology and mineralogy. Much of his mineral collection is devoted to common and rare mineral species originating from lithiumcesium-tantalum type granite pegmatites. Tom has spent considerable time studying and appreciating the mineralogy of Brazilian pegmatites as well as those from his home state of South Dakota. During his research on granite pegmatites he discovered three new minerals: tiptopite, fransoletite, and pahasapaite and co-described eight other species new to science. Tom is also a co-author of the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Minerals with Bill Roberts and George Rapp, Jr and has published numerous papers in professional journals.
Gem Crystals: Pegmatite Pocket Formation and Survival
Mineral specimens from gem-bearing pegmatites represent some of the most profound display pieces in both private and public collections with the finest pieces constituting natural art and investments. What some collectors and the general public may not appreciate is how uncommon single gem crystals and combination specimens containing tourmaline, aquamarine, morganite, topaz and yes, rare species such as amblygonite, herderite, beryllonite, petalite and others actually are! When we see them on display we tend to take their beauty for granted and sometimes forget about the complex journey they have made to make it to their final destination. This journey includes the complexity of their evolution from granite melts, miarolitic cavity (pocket) formation, the process of gem crystal growth, not to mention their survival in the Earth’s crust for many millions to sometimes over a billion years! And then there is the excitement of discovery and the fastidious extraction process which makes us appreciate how wondrous these gem crystals truly are! Beryllonite on Hydroxylherderite Shigar Valley, Pakistan, 7cm tall. Tom Campbell specimen, James Elliott photo.
Edward Boehm
Edward Boehm is a colored stone dealer and consultant from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He discovered his passion for geology and minerals during summers spent in Switzerland with his grandfather, renowned gemologist, Dr. Edward GĂźbelin. Over his 30-year career Edward has traveled extensively to gemstone mining localities in Southeast Asia, East Africa, India, Sri Lanka, and South America. He worked for the GĂźbelin Gem Lab, Pala International, and as a consultant for GIA and USAID before venturing out on his own in 1996. Edward has authored and co-authored numerous articles on gems and gemstone localities and serves on the editorial review boards for Gems & Gemology, The Journal of Gemmology, and The Australian Gemmologist. His company, RareSource, specializes in fine & collectable gemstones, collection sales & acquisitions, and museum & laboratory consulting.
An Inside View of Gem Crystal Production at Major Tourmaline mines, and the Ouro Preto Topaz Mine Gem producing pegmatites exist in numerous countries around the globe, but Brazil has been blessed with many of the largest and most important. Tourmaline, aquamarine, and morganite are the primary commercial gems being produced, but others like apatite and kunzite are also important. Brazil is also known for its imperial topaz from Ouro Preto, emeralds from Itabira, and alexandrite from Hematita. This presentation will cover basic aspects of the geology of the Minas Gerais gem bearing pegmatites, topaz bearing granitic gneiss deposits and emerald forming metamorphosed schists. However, the primary focus will be on gemstone mining and production, environmental reclamation efforts, gemological properties, pricing, and global comparisons to similar gem deposits in Mozambique, Nigeria, and Namibia.
John Saul
John spent eight years as a student in the geology department at M.I.T. and is quite sure he never heard a mention of transparent gemstones other than diamonds in all that time. In the late 1960s, he mined beryl east of Mount Kenya, stocking it in drums in his yard Nairobi. One day a visitor peeked into a drum, asked what was in it, and when told, exclaimed, “Goodie, lets look for aquamarine”. A half dozen years later, the visitor’s infectious enthusiasm led to John’s discovery of the John Saul Ruby Mine in Tsavo West, Kenya. John and his French wife Muriel, and his Kenya-born sons Mark and Eric subsequently moved to Paris. John has spent much of his time writing books and peer-reviewed papers about origins of hard transparent gemstones, deep gas, the pandemic of 1918, cancer concurrently with the appearance of multicellular animals during the “Cambrian Explosion”, High Culture in ancient Mesopotamia, and the origin of humanity’s oldest beliefs among the ancestors of the click-speaking peoples of east and southern Africa.
Origin of Gem Deposits: New Theories The tanzanite occurrence, the Umba River sapphire deposit in northeastern Tanzania, and the John Saul Ruby Mine in southeast Kenya define a circle, necessarily so, because any three geometric points define a unique circle. This 158-mile (255 km) diameter circle can be explained as the exposed portion of a 3-D impact scar formed at the same time as the lunar scars. Events can be traced from the formation of this approximately 4000 million year old feature to the origin of the gem deposits almost 3500 million years later. Other such circular scars – in the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, and the Urals – are also associated with occurrences of hard transparent gemstones. The first matrix Tanzanite brought to the USA, featured in LIFE magazine 50 years ago.
Jeff Scovil
Jeffrey Scovil studied geology in undergraduate school before switching focuses to anthropology/archeology. His did further graduate work in the Southwest in archeology and museum work at Arizona State University, and later worked as a laboratory photographer at Salmon Ruin in New Mexico, which led to the founding of Scovil Photography in 1990, specializing in earth science materials. He has photographed, lectured and published specimens around the world, probably more so than any other mineral photographer to date, and in 2007 he won the Carnegie Mineralogical Award for his contributions to the field. He is an Associate Photographer for Rocks and Minerals, The Mineralogical Record, Lapis, and Le Regne Mineral, as well as an author of Photographing Minerals, Fossils and Lapidary Materials, (Geoscience Press, 1996) the only book published on the subject. He has written numerous articles on photography, mineral localities as well as show reports.
Adventures in Brazil
Jeff, through his work, had the chance to see several important collections built in the pre-internet time that Brazil was like the Wild West for minerals, producing the most diversity of any country. In 2007, Scovil made a trip to Brazil to photograph for Julio Landmann, a major collector with a private museum. After four days of photography that barely scratched the highlights, he flew to Belo Horizonte where he met the legendary dealer Luis Menezes and saw his personal collection of exquisite rarities. They traveled together for the next four days visiting pegmatite localities in Minas Gerais. They spent significant time underground - including in the legendary Pederneira, Navegador, Corrego Frio, Telirio, and Urucum mines. Scovil’s presentation will include photos of his personal experiences in Brazil with the people who mined and brought out pieces at the tail end of the golden years of discovery there. Elbaite; Pederneira mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 5.7 cm. Mike Keim collection, Jeff Scovil Photo
Paula Crevoshay
Paula Crevoshay is broadly recognized as being among the few jewelry artists who continues to reinvent her work year after year, taking her pieces and audience to ever greater heights. From the very beginning, Crevoshay has applied fine art principles to jewelry design. In addition to Fine Art, Crevoshay studied Anthropology, including Symbolism. One may note echoes of past cultures in her very modern expression of artistic archetypes. Crevoshay has enjoyed recognition and engagement from important museums for decades. Her work can be found on display at the GIA, Carnegie and Smithsonian museums, and there have recently been one woman exhibitions at the Musee de Mineralogie in Paris and the Natural History Museum in LA. Her next one-woman exhibition will open here in Dallas this time next year at the Perot Museum.
Illuminations: Nature as Art The Musee de Minerologie at Mines ParisTech mounted a very successful one-woman exhibition of Paula Crevoshay’s fine art jewels in Fall-Winter, 2016 – 2017 called “Illuminations – from Earth to Jewel”. Visitors came from across Europe and from as far away as Hong Kong and the Americas to see this special show. Crevoshay will take us on a journey through the exhibition of the pairings of her jewels with the natural wonders of the minerals that the gems in her jewels come from. She will also talk about the mineral locations of some of the gems and explain how the source of minerals influences her designs and why it is important.
Indigo the Damselfly; 20 ct boulder opal body with tanzanite, amethyst, sapphire, tsavorite, and water opal accents.
Joe Budd Photos
www.rocksandminerals.org
Protecting all your precious investments
Exclusive Mineral Collections Insurance Policy Our custom-crafted insurance programs now offer unique and superior protection for fine mineral specimens, fossils, crystals, gemstones, fine arts, and collectibles of every description. Coverage also available for:
Mineral Dealers • Special Exhibitions • Museum and Corporate Collections
Insurance & Protection Lipscomb & Associates Ed Rosenwasser erosenwasser@lipscombinsurance.com (214) 420-5205
Monte Zajicek Known to most in the industry as the son of Ray Zajicek, Monte has worked in the Emerald business with his father for almost ten years at Equatorian Imports, the company Ray founded in 1968. Dealing with Colombian Emerald and being one of the very few dealers in the rare Red Beryl, (aka Bixbite, Red Emerald,) Ray and Monte provide US retailers and gemstone wholesalers fine colored gemstones to fit their customers needs. Monte was born in raised in Dallas and went to college in Oklahoma. He then spent over a decade in Los Angeles before jumping into the colored stone gemstone industry. Over the last several years he has helped his father develop the terminology and literature that was recently adopted by the AGTA to promote the term Red Emerald to the public. Monte and Ray make regular trips to Bogota where they maintain an office throughout the year. They continue to sell all varieties of color, both loose and finished, to their customers.
Hunting Colombian Emeralds Determined to use his audience at the Symposium as a platform for wild self promotion, Monte will be leaving the science to the scientists, and using his time to entertain the crowd with stories of the danger and mysteries of Bogota. As Colombia, to this day, finds itself on the list of countries that should be visited with caution, it remains an enigma to most Americans too scared to venture into its borders. Be prepared to hear elaborate tales of kidnapping, murder, Victor Carranza, the drug trade, and‌ to be honest Colombia has now become a very safe place to visit, but most people still wanna hear about the good old days. Monte will be detailing his many visits to Bogota buying Emeralds with his father. Some stories will be true, all will be funny, and most of you should find this lecture a must see of the Symposium! Emerald - Muzo, Colombia. 4.5cm. Joe Budd Photo, Arkenstone Specimen
Brian Cook
Brian was born in Salt Lake City, UT “awhile back.” He spent 5 years working as a firefighter, then studied Geology at Sonoma State University. After leaving college, he became a partner in an international grassroots exploration company based in Brazil prospecting precious metals, which quickly led to a personal interest in pegmatite exploration and mining. He has been involved in “Paraiba” tourmaline mines from 1988 to present, and in 1989 he established Nature’s Geometry Inc. with his wife Kendra, as a jewelry design, manufacture and lapidary arts business. In 2016, he was an AGTA Spectrum Winner for the Fashion Forward category. An early advocate of responsible sourcing in the jewelry trade, Brian has orchestrated an initiative for an artisanal small-scale mining community in Brazil and is currently involved in scoping studies to verify and audit stone sourcing in the Amazon basin. Brian & Kendra are based in Tucson AZ and Bahia, Brazil. They have 3 daughters and 2 grandchildren.
Rutilated Quartz and Brazilian Paraiba Tourmaline
Sao Jose da Batalha, Paraiba, Brazil is the type locality for cuprian elbaite, dubbed “Paraiba” tourmaline. Cook’s talk will delve into the story of the discovery, tracing the long and twisted road to the present. It was initially discovered in the southern portion of the vast Borborema Pegmatite Provence in about 1988, in NE Brazil’s rugged outback Caatinga, a xeric scrub and thorny forest. Since its discovery, any news has always elicited excitement and anticipation because of the rarity and desirability; the beauty and mystique. Next, we travel to the western edge of the Chapada Diamantina of Bahia state in Brazil. Here rutilated quartz is found, famous for striking rich metallic colors and wondrous epitaxial star sixlings on hematite. The vast resource supports a remote community with a long history of mining, which started in the 1600s with gold deposits. This unique ancient volcanic sequence, 1.700Ma, Rio Remedios Fm, also holds rare earth elements in unusual minerals, with mineralization from the Brasiliano orogenic cycle dating to approximately 520Ma.
Richard Freeman
Richard has been in the gem and mineral business since 1979, when he and his business partner Jim Elliott left their positions in clinical social work to travel to Brazil to learn the colored stone business. In 1983, he was a founding member of AGTA and sat on the first board of directors for the association dedicated to the promotion, long-term stability, and integrity of the natural colored gemstone market. After dealing in gems and decorative minerals in the wholesale arena, Richard and Jim started the EF Watermelon Gallery, in 1985, dedicated to fine jewelry, minerals, and decorative arts. In 2002, he became a marketing agent for North American Emerald Mines, which found arguably the finest emerald from North America, currently at the Houston Musem of Natural Science. Richard, Jim, and their wives continue to operate EF Watermelon in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
Jonas Mine Tourmaline Discovery Richard Freeman first started visiting Brazil for gem sourcing in 1980, after hearing from a client that a fantastic new tourmaline find was discovered at the end of the previous year, with unbelievably giant crystals. Upon arriving in Brazil with his business partner, Jim Elliott, he realized a massive flood in Governador Valadares has created significant hardships in the region, but for $5 US, visitors could enter a tent Jonas Lima had set up to see these five massive crystals, nicknamed “The Grandfathers.� The experience made a life-long impact, and Freeman and Lima stayed friends, continuing to do business in other Brazilian material. But Freeman never could have guessed that nearly 40 years later, he’d have the opportunity to parter up to purchase one of The Grandfathers. Tourmaline, Jonas Mine, Brazil. 82cm, 66.5kg James Elliott Photo
Thomas Nagin
For more than forty years, Thomas Nagin has been exploring around the world for minerals. From quartz mining in Arkansas, he jumped into quartz mining in Colombia in the 1980s (NOT the safest place to do this!) and that broke the doors open to decades of adventures throughout Latin America; especially in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Brazil. Thomas was instrumental in bringing to the world giant amethyst crystals from Bolivia, and the finest ametrine crystals. He has documented many of these adventures in his recent series, “Mineral Explorers,” which aired nationwide on PBS television (and which Rob Lavinsky joined to produce and participate in Season 2, sharing the thrill of chewing Coca and climbing in the Andes). He is currently acquiring beautiful quartz, (his favorite mineral), from independent diggers throughout Colombia and continues to be a major supplier of large decorator amethyst and collectible minerals from off-the-beaten-path locales in Bolivia.
Gem Hunting in Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia Thomas will share with us some of his favorite stories and adventures from the years spent filming on location throughout several countries South America for his television show “Mineral Explorers.” He travelled down the Amazon in Brazil, branching off to get to mineral mines; and made numerous trips to the mines to buy directly from the miners and mine owners (not necessarily the same thing...) Many of the video clips he shares will show us the local life, and how the miners work and live. He is also focusing on teaching and improving the miners’ lives, and the impact that sustainable mineral collecting endeavors have on local communities - much like rainforest preservation initiatives that keep more money local and also result in less pollution. Lastly, we will see a sneak preview of his upcoming documentary about his most recent project at the famous rhodochrosite mine in Pasto Bueno, Peru. The documentary shows the difficulties and challenges of working overseas in high altitude mines (with more to come, in his follow-up talk next year).
DEPARTMENT OF
geosciences
Beginning as one of the three original research programs in the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest in 1961 that evolved into the University of Texas at Dallas, the mission of the UTD Department of Geosciences is to deliver a challenging, stimulating, and useful education in geosciences to undergraduates and graduates at all degree levels and to add to our understanding of the Earth through the research of students, faculty, and staff. Our research has sent faculty and students to all seven continents, to the bottom of the ocean and into outer space. Our new sponsorship of the Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium reinforces our mission of providing breadth and depth of understanding of how the Earth formed and evolved and how Earth processes make rocks and minerals that are interesting, beautiful, and valuable.
www.utdallas.edu/geosciences | geosciences@utdallas.edu
Upcoming Symposium Speakers August 20-23, 2020
Mineral Evolution and the Incredible Ages of Minerals Dr. Shauna Morrison “Star Stuff” - Gold, Platinum and Diamonds from the Big Bang to Now Dr. Terry Wallace Unraveling Crystallization of Native Metals from Aluminum to Zinc Dr. David Mustart Peru: Famous Pyrite Mines and the Mines of the Andes Thomas Nagin Capillitas: Rhodochrosite from Argentina David Stoudt Modern Gold Mining in California at the Colorado Quartz Mine Dave Varabioff The History of Copper Mining in the USA Paul Brandes Minerals and Elements in the Human Body Dr. Alex Schauss
WATCH THE TALKS BlueCap Productions documents the Dallas Symposium each year. Previously talks were distributed via DVD, but we’re excited to switch to free online streaming for more flexible viewing. WWW.DALLASSYMPOSIUM.ORG/VIDEOS
The Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium is produced by Monica Kitt.
NATURE & SCIENCE Spring 2020 | Dallas | Live & Online
Crystallized Gold Serra do Caldeiro Pontes e Lacerda Mato Grosso, Brazil Height: 3.5 inches (9 cm) Weight: 380 Grams
HA.com/NatureandScience Inquiries: 877-HERITAGE (437-4824) Craig Kissick ext. 1995 CraigK@HA.com
DALLAS | NEW YORK | BEVERLY HILLS | SAN FRANCISCO | CHICAGO | PALM BEACH LONDON | PARIS | GENEVA | AMSTERDAM | HONG KONG Paul R. Minshull #16591. BP 12-25%; see HA.com. Licensed by the City of New York #1364738/9-DCA 57110