Some finds from my recent South Dakota trip

[EricTheCat]

It has been way too long but guess what, I was not kidnapped by space aliens (at least not that I recall... ).

I just returned from a trip organized by a rock shop to go collect rocks and fossils in South Dakota. I did not find anything too spectacular but it was real fun to find things that I would not normally find around here. I thought I would share a few pics of some of my better finds. I am not positive about some of the IDs, just need to spend some more time on that as these are things I don't find around here. Tips are welcomed but I don't mind spending some time to figure these out, just been busy unpacking and cleaning these up. The IDs I am sure of are the garnet in schist, Muscovite, black tourmaline, quartz of course and most of the green tourmaline. These are all from the junk pile from an old mine.

Garnet in schist


Blue apatite (maybe?) on the left, green tourmaline on the right (5 gallon pale for scale)


Green tourmaline


In mica


Blue apatite (Maybe?)


Black tourmaline in matrix


Haven't figured out what the purple crystals on the left might be but I really like it, on the bottom is the Muscovite and just some quartz on the right


Muscovite (hard to tell from the pic but there are hexagonal patterns to the mica)


Pretty purple rock


I hope you enjoy. I will be adding my fossil finds in the fossils area.

Happy hunting,
Eric

 

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[SorenCoins]

Wow! Very nice Tourmaline especially! That purple looks like Lepidolite to me.

 

[EricTheCat]

Wow! Very nice Tourmaline especially! That purple looks like Lepidolite to me.

Thanks! Funny, I was just coming back to say I think the purple stuff is Lepidolite. Also it makes a lot of sense given the other minerals present at that location.

After looking in to it more my best guess for the blue mineral is still apatite.

Also I am starting to think some of the other mica may be larger grain Muscovite.

 

[DDancer]

Kyanite a possibility for your blue mineral? Got a good haul there Eric

 

[605dano]

Nice finds. Looks like you have been to the Ingersol. Purple rock is lepidolite for sure. I think apatite is right for the blue one. Good on ya.

 

[EricTheCat]

Kyanite a possibility for your blue mineral? Got a good haul there Eric

Thanks! I shall look in to kyanite as it wasn't on my list of minerals I ruled out.

Nice finds. Looks like you have been to the Ingersol. Purple rock is lepidolite for sure. I think apatite is right for the blue one. Good on ya.

Thanks! What do you mean by the Ingersol?

This has been quite the learning experience. I feel like next time I go I will have a much better idea of what I'm looking at.

 

[IAMZIM]

Awesome! Only tourmaline I find here is black! Looks like a GREAT outing!

 

[605dano]

The only mine I know of to have green tourmaline , lapidolite, and apitite like that is the Bob Ingersol mine out of Keystone, The dumps have been picked over for years but still produce. Nice finds.

 

[EricTheCat]

Awesome! Only tourmaline I find here is black! Looks like a GREAT outing!

Thanks! You still make some great finds. Always fun to see what you will turn up next.

The only mine I know of to have green tourmaline , lapidolite, and apitite like that is the Bob Ingersol mine out of Keystone, The dumps have been picked over for years but still produce. Nice finds.

Thanks. This was not far from keystone. Kind of cool that you were able to gather that just from what I brought home. A mile hike uphill to get to the dump. I swear the pale weighed more and more all the way down even though I was no longer adding to it.

 

[DDancer]

Hehh Seems 605dano has solved the issue of the apitite with that bit of deduction Eric cool stuff.

 

[wilfndgold1]

Yeah killer Tourmaline and Blue? Good stuff thanx for sharing Eric. I still dont want to go prospecting out here yet it was 100 deg here the other day?

 

[EricTheCat]

Yeah killer Tourmaline and Blue? Good stuff thanx for sharing Eric. I still dont want to go prospecting out here yet it was 100 deg here the other day?

Thanks! Wow 100 degrees still? We had a good amount of snow on Friday and there was still snow on the ground yesterday, all melted/evaporated now. If you do go out in the heat don't be like me, remember to consume plenty of electrolytes in addition to water.