THE 784^th MEETING
OF
THE MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

7:30 p.m., Friday June 13, 2003
Building E, Room 220
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California

Featuring a Talk by

Ken Gochenour

on

Recent Events and Future Plans
at the Cryogenie Mine

June Program

The speaker for the June meeting is the esteemed raconteur Ken Gochenour. Ken, along with brother, Dana, teamed up with  two other miners willing to risk a lot of work on the long shot chance that the CryoGenie Mine, long thought to be exhausted, might actually produce tourmalines again. The story of the mining that occupied the brothers during the summer of 2001 is a modern day success story almost beyond belief.

    One need only turn to Rocks and Minerals Magazine May/June 2003 where the cover story is the story of the amazing CryoGenie Mine. One need only enter the Hall of Minerals at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to see the huge new tourmaline in a separate kiosk right in the entry way. The story of the recovery of the numerous museum pieces is a riveting tale.

Attend Ken's talk on the CryoGenie and have the opportunity to ask questions directly of the men who made the gems happen. In addition, Ken and Dana will bring some highly discounted specimens from the CryoGenie and make them available to MSSC members and guests. The sale of specimens will produce a 15% rebate from the brothers to the Kid's Activities at the December Show.

Annual Picnic

The Annual Picnic is tentatively scheduled to be held on August 9. 2003.  The place and schedule of activities will be presented in the July Bulletin.  Plan to be there!

News of the First Annual Open House

by Larry Bruce

In April MSSC sponsored an "Open House" at Kristalle, located in Laguna Beach. This was held the day following Wayne Leicht's entertaining and informative talk on the perils of being an international mineral dealer.

For the open house, Dona Leicht put out a spread of wonderful things to eat. A good number of members showed up to sort through about eighty flats of discounted crystals and other mineral finery. Good conversation was abundant and if one behaved, you were allowed to gaze upon the fine gold specimens in the big safe. (no drooling allowed) Wayne also had several display cases that were quickly gobbled up, microscopes, storage drawers, rock splitters and all manner of mineral related items.

The best part of this Open House was its function as a fund-raiser. When all the dust cleared and the sales could be added up, MSSC netted a fine sum of Six Hundred Forty Dollars earmarked for Kids Activities at the December 2003 Show. Dona handed over a check when I saw her at the Costa Mesa Show last week. You should have seen Janet's smile.

The success of this event leads me to predict that it will be followed by something very similar next Spring. Thanks to everyone who made this Open House possible and particularly to Wayne and Dona. I was proud of MSSC for this kind of support and participation.

Do You Really Know Where You Are

By Walt Margerum

You just bought your new GPS receiver and you are ready to go to the field to find that great specimen. Before you go you need to learn a little about coordinate systems. It appears that to cartographers there are many worlds not just one.  One reason is the type of map projection used to get a spherical planet onto a flat map.  Things were so much easier when the world was flat. Almost all of the maps you buy from the USGS use the NAD27 (North American Datum 1927).  Some digital maps use WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984), and others allow you to use either.

The following figure shows a typical error if you mix these coordinate systems.  The east-west difference is 81 meters (265 feet), and the north-south is 1 meter (3.3 feet).  So it is obvious that your 6-meter accuracy reading is an illusion if you mix coordinate systems.

The question then is what coordinate system is best to use.  If you get most of your locations from USGS maps, or use the U.S. Bureau of Mines Special Publication 12-95 “Mineral Availability System/ Minerals Industry Location System CD-ROM” [MASMILS] then NAD27 is the logical choice.  The National Geographic Society’s State Topographic series can use either system.  My version of DeLorme’s Topo USA only uses WGS84, as does their Street Atlas USA.  So if these are your primary maps then you need to use WGS84.

My Garmin GPS-12 lists 105 coordinate systems including 11 NAD27 systems. The one most of us should use is NAD27 CONUS.   One thing to remember is when you give out a location you should include the coordinate system.

I always use NAD27 in the Bulletin.

From the Desk of the Editor

Last month I offered to e-mail the Bulletin to those that were willing to receive it by that means.  While the response was not overwhelming it was a good start.  To date I have received 25 positive responses,. If you are getting this Bulletin by snail mail, the e-mailer’s have already received theirs.  If you too want the Bulletin by e-mail contact me at wmargerum@earthlink.net.  Your Bulletin will arrive days earlier, and many of the pictures and maps will be in color.  An added bonus is it will be stored on your computer, and available for instant, almost, access.

Seaside Gemboree; AFMS/CFMS Show

The National and California State Show is almost here and we will have a lot of interesting things going on.  This years CFMS/AFMS show will be on the Beach in Ventura, CA from June 5th to the 8th. We will have 5 large buildings of Dealers, Displays, Demonstrations, Dino Hall, and Many Hands on Displays for you to try.  We have two Field Trips planned during our show one to an uncollected area in Horse Canyon and a family beach trip for Fossil Whale Bone.  There will be a Dino Hall, with many fossil Dinosaur Exhibits, including a full size model of a Triceratops.  Also there will be a Dino Dig area, where you can dig your own Triceratops fossil bone.  We will have a speaker on “Collecting Mars Meteorites” and a hands on JPL Mars Rover Exhibit, for you to run, just like on Mars.

Pre-Registration Forms for camping, eating events, admission, display, demonstrations, Mermaid Contest, and more may be taken from our web site - link to the Federation site; www.afms-cfmsgemshow.org.  We hope to see you all at this great show.

Minutes of the May Meeting

The meeting was called to order by president JoAnna Richey at 7:30 pm, who then invited Rock Currier to introduce Alfredo Petrov, our speaker for the evening.  The lecture room was packed indicating that many members knew what an interesting speaker Alfredo always is, and he certainly lived up to his well-earned reputation.  In his light- hearted introduction Rock explained how Alfredo’s wife could be both Bolivian and Japanese, but not quite either.

Alfredo asserted that the Viloco Mine which was the subject of the talk has produced more museum specimens of cassiterite than all the rest of the tin mines in the world and that it is also one of a very small number of mines that produce a very limited amount of clear cassiterite suitable for faceting.  He brought along a box of faceted cassiterites from there to show.

As anticipated the talk combined a lot of mining and general history with a travelogue and an up-to-date account of the current situation at the mine.  Up until recently Bolivia was the number 1 tin producer in the world, but has now fallen to number 7, largely because other places, such as China, have even cheaper labor.  The Viloco Mine is now longer operated by the government, but by about 250 independent miners who on average bring out about 2 to 3 pounds of cassiterite a days apiece. 

The mine itself is at about 17000 feet high in the Andes.  The trip from the nearest town takes a full day over dirt roads.  Rock and Alfredo made the trip in the 1970s and Alfredo has made it again recently.  The scenery along the way is both spectacular and fascinating.  In the pictures it is easy to see that the glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate and that this portends serious water supply problems for the local Indians.  The now barren hills were reportedly forested until the Spanish used all the timber to supply charcoal to their silver smelting operations.

Alfredo, Rock, and other dealers have made an all out effort to make sure that the local miners, who make about $60 per month on average, know the value of good mineral specimens and know the importance of wrapping to prevent dings.  Rock and Alfredo mentioned it on the local TV.  Other dealers advertise on the local radio for good specimens.  The expectation is that good specimens will continue to appear, but at a much slower rate than in the past.

Alfredo also described other recent mineral finds in Bolivia, particularly some very nice large terminated bismuthinite crystals and some very sharp magnetite on feldspar.

After the program it was moved by Janet Gordon and seconded by Bob White that we raise our dues to $20 for an individual member and $30 for a family membership.  After little discussion this was passed unanimously.  JoAnna then appointed Ann Meister as Chair of the ways and means committee and Rock Currier as a member to consider other ways the club might raise money in the future.

All business being concluded the door prize drawing was held at 9:00 pm and the meeting then adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by the Secretary, Bob Housley

Calendar of Events

June

5-8  Ventura, CA; Del Air Rockhounds, Inc.
Seaside Park (Ventura Fairgrounds), 10 W. Harbor Blvd.
Hours: Sat. 10 - 6; Sun. 10 - 5
Brad Tanas (818) 368-5624

7-8  San Diego, CA  San Diego Lapidary Society
Al Bahr Shrine Center, 5440 Kearny Mesa Road
Hours: Sat. 10 - 5; Sun. 10 - 4
David Kostruba

21-22  La Habra, CA  North Orange County Gem & Mineral Society; World of Gems, La Habra Community Center
101 W. La Habra Blvd.
Hours: Sat 10-5 Sun 10-4
Bill & Issie Burns isnbl@aol.com

28-29  Culver City CA, Culver City Rock and Mineral Club
Veterans Memorial Auditorium , Corner of Overland Avenue and Culver Blvd.
Hours: Sat 10-6 Sun 10-5
(310) 836-4611 / http://www.gembiz.com/ccrmc/fiesta.htm

19-20  Escondido CA, Palomar Gem & Mineral Club
Escondido Army National Guard Armory, 304 East Park Avenue
Hours: Sat 9-6; Sun 9-5
Don Parsley (760) 745-6181