HighDesertHunter
Tenderfoot
- #1
Thread Owner
Hello...I'm a new member to this forum and this is my first post. I've been collecting rocks for many years in Southern AZ, particularly in and around the Empire, Santa Rita, Patagonia mountains in the Sonoran desert. I became interested while ATVing throughout the area and traveling to some very remote places where would would make camp and walk washes and explore abandoned mines. Over the years I've collected some interesting rocks but not until recently started to investigate more and more as to what I've been finding which brings me to this forum/post. I also always do my research to make sure I'm not collecting on active mines/claims and avoid collecting where any claim signs are present. With all that being said, here's my first rock/mineral I'd like to share and hopefully get some insight, opinions/info on my find. I'm not 100% sure this is vanadinite but it sure looks like it based on many photos/info of AZ vanadinite. I believe the base rock to be quartz latite based on mine data from the Arizona Dept of Mines and Minerals for mines in the area (Temporal Gulch, Santa Cruz Co AZ) which seem to be mostly lead mines which also seems to support the presence of vanadinite. These rocks were found in a wash, 3 of them all about the same size as a golf ball or slightly larger. I broke these in half on sight which exposed the crystal and granular formations (not stains) inside. Thanks in advance for any info on helping to identify what I may have found. First three pics are of rock #1 followed by 3 pics of rock #2 and two more of rock #3. Rock #2 and #3 are more granular, with #3 being the most granular with crystals present.
Hope you enjoy it here
