August 2018 Newsletter now available

Check out the August 2018 Beacon for current info about club events, field trips and volunteer opportunities.  Also includes info about the upcoming Gem and Mineral show!

All the latest

Check the right side bar for an update about the 2018 Gem and Mineral Show.   

Our March newsletter is available.
 
New members are always welcome! There is a membership application included with our monthly newsletter, or you can join at either a meeting or a field trip.

February newsletter

This month's Beacon is now available.  

January newsletter

Happy New Year Everyone!   Here's our first Beacon of the New Year!

December Newsletter

Be sure to check out the November newsletter for info about our holiday party.   Also, please note there is no field trip in December.  

November newsletter

Our November Newsletter is now available 

for your viewing pleasure.  

Craft show application

If you're interested in being a vendor at our November Craft Show,  here is an application that you can print and fill out. 

October Beacon

Please check out our October newsletter for all the latest with the Club and our activities. 

Craft Show and Bazaar

THE GRANT COUNTY ROLLING STONES GEM & MINERAL SOCIETY

will be holding a CRAFT SHOW & BAZAAR

 

on November 25, 2017, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at

 2045 Memory Lane.

 

Set up will be Nov. 24, 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM or Nov. 25 - 7 AM to 9 AM

 

Tear Down will be November. 25 from 4-6 PM.

 

It will be $25.00 for an 8' table for the Day.

 

Let us know if you are interested in selling at this show.

September newsletter

Be sure to check out the newsletter for all the latest information about the show.    In particular, members please check out the schedule for set-up, vendor dinner, take-down, Etc.

Gem and MIneral Show UPDATED Vendor List

VENDORS 2017

Susan & Doug Abbott, Desert Designs, Silver City, NM,   Native American jewelry, Zuni fetishes

Henry & Charlotte Andazola, Silver City, NM,   Native American jewelry

Brandi & Matthew Bateman, Rimrock, AZ  Turquoise and silver

Fred Bishop, 2 Guys Rocks, Deming, NM,   Slabs, quartz, geodes, turquoise, jewelry

Karen Blisard, Radiant Gemstones, Silver City, NM,   Jewelry, faceted stones, facet rough

Linda Boatwright, Los Lunas, NM  Azurite Gallery, Jewelry, gems, minerals, fossils, agates

Harry & Carol Bruntz, Uniquely Yours, Horizon City, TX,   Rocks, gems, minerals, display stands

Kevin Cook & Sylveen Robinson-Cook, Royal Scepter, Silver City, NM,  Books, maps, beads, jewelry

Trina & Jeff Cornell, Trina’s Rock Shop, Deming, NM,  Lapidary equipment, rough, slabs

Jack & Marty Crawford, Silver City, NM,  Minerals

Dave Douglass, Douglass Minerals, Tucson, AZ,   Mineral specimens

Julie Dubosz, Sierra Vista, AZ,  wirewrap jewelry

Sue Fischer, Jewelry from Sue, Silver City, NM,   Silver and gold jewelry

Marge & Don Gibboney, Paintbrush jewelry, Grand Junction, CO,  wire wrap jewelry

Sally Hansen, Sally Rocks, Silver City, NM,  Jewelry, lapidary

Gene & Sandra Hardgrove,  Rock Art, Tucson, AZ, gemstones (facet & cab), jewelry

Jackie Harvey, Starwalker Gems, T or C, NM  Specimens, New Age items

Therese Higgins, The Jewelry Lady, Silver City, NM,   Jewelry, belly belts

Michael Ho, Gemstone Station, Miraloma, CA,  Beads, pearls

Bill & Linda Horton, Misty Mountain G&M, Litchfield Park, AZ,  Jewelry, gems, minerals, carvings

Bill & Emily Jaeger, Endless Mountain Minerals, Hereford, AZ,   Crystals, rough, specimens, jewelry

JoAnna Johnston, Trunk Shows NM, Rio Rancho, NM  Jewlery, beads, findings, supplies, tools

Patsy & Jerry Kastner, Kastner Gems & Supply, Tucson, AZ,   Jewelry, lapidary equipment, supplies

Ron Kellner, RK Enterprises, Show Low, AZ,  Jewelry, cabs, slabs, specimens

Randy & Sally McCowan, Deming, NM,  Arrowheads, turquoise

Kim Muller, Burro Mountain Arts, Tyrone, NM,  Silver and gemstone jewelry

Ken Newman, DBA Rocks, Deming, NM,  Spheres, slabs, thunder eggs

Jose Nunez, Canutillo, TX,  Minerals

Jay & Amy Penn, El Chivo Viejo, Albuquerque, NM, Minerals

David & Ruth Ann Rinsch, Dave’s Enterprises, Tyrone, NM,  Rocks, gems

Carmen & Marina Sanchez, Texas Rocks & Minerals, El Paso, TX, minerals, rocks, specimens

John Scully & Laurie Rossi, Scully’s Minerals, Fairview, NM   Minerals, fossils

Jesse, James, and Jan Searcy, Black hat Trading, Deming, NM,   Jewelry, findings, beads, carvings

Virginia Wilkinson, Buckhorn, NM, Jewelry and rocks

August Newsletter

Be sure to check out the August newsletter for all sorts of information about field trips, meetings, and our upcoming Show. 

Be sure to listen!

Our Club will be featured in an interview/discussion on a radio show Local Flavor, on August 31, 2017 at 9:00am on KURU, 89.1FM Silver City.  Jeannine will either come on, or send another member for the program.  It will be mostly about the Show, but will also include info on the organization as a whole and other activities we do.

Here's the web site for KURU

July Newlsetter

The July Newsletter can be found here.  

2017 34th Annual Gem and Mineral Show Display Competition

This year we will be going back to the newly remodeled Grant County Conference center! The main entrance leads into a large foyer and that is where we would like to put all the display cases.
 
This year we would like to utilize all of our 8 display cases and to entice you to fill one of those cases with your special collection of rocks or lapidary work, we are proposing a competition amongst our members.
 
The displays will be voted on by the guests that come to our show. The winner will be announced on Monday, the closing day of the show.
 
Each display case is 2ft x 2ft square and is equipped with a light to show off its contents and also a latch that can be locked (you will need to furnish the lock). 

Each item in the case should have a small but legible identification tag. You will also need to provide a tag with your name on it. This tag will be affixed to the front of the case and will be covered during the competition. We will keep the owner of the display anonymous and assign only numbers to each case. The owners of each case will be revealed on Monday after the winners have been chosen.
 
There will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner. Each winner will receive a club money certificate that they can spend on any item the club has in the club store including slabs. 1st place will receive a $30.00 certificate, 2nd place a $20.00 certificate and 3rd place a $15.00 certificate. And ribbons too!
 
This will be a fun way to participate in the show, show off your work and get a prize for your efforts! So, let me know if you would like to participate, remember, we only have 8 cases and it will be first come, first serve in reserving one.
 
Contact: Jeannine Weiner – rollingstonesgmsshow@gmail.com

Items for the May silent auction at club meeting

April field trip photos

The April field trip to Fluorite Flats 

on the west side of Cooks Peak.

Big News! Show Location!!

 

Show Chair Jeannine Weiner reports that the 2017 Gem and Mineral Show will be back at its regular location - the newly renovated Grant County Conference and Business Center on Highway 180.   

Club member Andy Anderson sent in these photos of the facility as Show leadership measures and evaluates the new space.

We sure hope to see you there on Labor Day Weekend of 2017.

Great advice about Rockhounding safety

Here is a great article that will help you make sure you are safe when out in the field.    Be sure to check it out!

Silent Auction items for April meeting

March and April Beacons

Sorry, we are a little behind, but here you can find the March club newsletter.  

 And here you can find the April club newsletter. 

Silver City Library Display

The display was a BIG HIT! Many patrons of the library expressed that they were sorry to see it leave and also expressed their thanks to our club for providing it!  Here are a few photos.   

February Newsletter

Check out the February Newsletter. 

Amazing amathyst

Submitted by Dr. John Cunninghan, Professor Emeritus, Western New Mexico University

I received this from an old field camp student.   He was told that, "that these huge Brazilian amethyst geodes were formed in hollow logs.  If that is so, peeling away the matrix should be no problem.  Regardless, they are sure spectacular."  

January newsletter

Check out the January Beacon. 

November Field Trip Report

by Club Member Anita Williams

We met as usual in the Visitor Center parking lot on a beautiful fall morning.  Promptly at 8:30 am the vehicle caravan departed heading south towards Lordsburg.  We regrouped at the Pilot station on I-10 fueling up with gas ($.30 cheaper than Silver, but that’s no surprise), coffee and/or breakfast.  There was some "de-fueling" too although we were told there is a rest stop right in Hachita that could accommodate folks in need.

We were heading for the abandoned Apache Mine in the Apache Hills south of Hachita.  We accessed the mine area after a four mile drive on a dirt road.  The area had numerous tailing piles and some trenches and a few debris filled shafts.  Of course the group gathered their buckets and hammers and scattered across the area in search of rock/ minerals samples.

The following data was taken from an article by Wofgang Elston, Mining Districts of Hildago County, NM, in NMGS, 17^th Field Conference.  The Apache mine started production in the 1880’s.  Between 1880 and 1929 the mine shipped low-grade malachite in calcite to smelters in El Paso and Douglas to be used as flux in the smelting process.   From 1929 on there has been some production and sporatic exploration.  The mineral deposit was formed during the Laramide (late Cretaceous to early Tertiary age: the time of the uplift of the Rocky Mountains) and was associated with an igneous intrusion in the Apache Mountains.  The associated fluids formed what is called a contact metasomatic deposit.  This caused the limestone formation to be altered/replaced by mineralizing solutions.  The alteration produced the massive beds of calcite present at the mine site, and as a consequence, the beautiful calcite rhombhedrons scattered all over the area.  Other minerals found on site include malachite, azurite, chrysocolla and possibly turquoise. 

After collecting at the mine a few vehicles took off to look for quartz crystals farther down the dirt road.  This part of the road was a bit more challenging with a 2 wheel drive and it is not recommended.  We drove through several steep washes over several miles until we were stopped at a wash out.  Fortunately there were nice pieces of quartz and some crystal terminations scattered over the entire area.  So although we did not get to the specific location we were able to collect some nice samples.  In this area, the quartz is weathering out of the limestone so it is scattered on the surface over a large area.

We all loaded up and drove out in mass in case someone had trouble making it over some of the rougher road segments.  Happily we all made it to the pavement without incident.  There was a photo stop at the Hachita rest area prior to heading back to town with our treasures. 

December newsletter

The latest edition of the Beacon can be found here.

November Beacon and Club Library

Our November newsletter is available for  your viewing pleasure.  And, be sure to check out our Club Library shown on the right sidebar in About the Club.   We have a great assortment of publications available for members to borrow while at club meetings.  

October Field Trip and Pick Nick

From Andy Anderson:  "Here are some  pictures of our Pick Nick today at our geode claim. There were 25 of us hunting geodes and as always eating."

Gold Panning Program

Thanks to Karen Blisard for supplying this photo taken at the October club meeting.  David Rinsch is demonstrating gold panning to the Club.