From mid-2021, newsletter articles are no longer posted separately here. Interested readers should scan through the newsletter headings under the ‘Newsletters’ tab.

FACETIPS – A GEM CUTTER’S NOTEBOOK

by
Duncan Miller


The faceting articles published over the past few years in the Mineral Chatter have been compiled into a single 128 page document, available for download for those interested in saving all the articles together. To download the pdf file click here.

A 29,18 ct cuprite from Onganja, Namibia, cut by Duncan Miller and now in a private collection in Germany.


Browsing Archive: July, 2020

RECYCLE, REUSE, REPURPOSE – THE CAPE TOWN TIN MINES

Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Monday, July 27, 2020, In : Mineralogy 

Duncan Miller

This month we are going to do all three, recycle an old publication, reuse it with additional photographs, and repurpose it as an article on the club’s website. The article describes Cape Town’s former tin mines, and the website article has a virtual tour of the Vredehoek tin mine on Devil’s Peak, courtesy of Dr Gregor Borg of Halle University in Germany. All of this is available for download from http://ctminsoc.org.za/resources/CAPETOWNSTINMINES.pdf

Few people know that ...


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MINERAL OF THE MONTH – OLIVINE

Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Monday, July 27, 2020, In : Mineral of the Month 
Duncan Miller



Olivine is the name given to both a mineral and a mineral group. The mineral olivine is an orthorhombic silicate with the relatively simple chemical formula of (Mg,Fe)2[SiO4]. It has a continuous range of composition between two end members, one magnesium-rich and the other iron-rich. The magnesium end member of the range is called forsterite (Mg2SiO4) and the iron end member is fayalite (Fe2SiO4). These distinct minerals form part of the olivine group, which also includes a mang...

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FABERGE’S BIRDS

Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Monday, July 27, 2020, In : Lapidary 

Lesley Andrews

Peter Carl Fabergé was born in St Petersburg in 1846, and eventually became Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia, and a supplier of wonderful artworks worldwide. He assumed charge of the workshop his father had established in St Petersburg when he was only twenty-four years old, and presented the first Imperial Easter Egg to the Russian royal family in 1884. The workshop survived until 1918, by which time Russia had succumbed to revolution and the royal family was no mor...


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