Rockwerks Lapidary Forum

Im not sure if any of you saw this, but if you havent you must check it out!

LINK

Think of the cab one of them would make!!

Jess,

It was featured in Rock & Gem awhile back but I never get tired of looking at photos of the cave. Since its one of 3 minerals that I collect, I was especially excited about it. I can only imagine what it would be like to see the crystals in person.

I remember seeing that in Rock & Gem too. The size of them is just astounding! I can't imagine the conditions that allowed the crystals to grow so big. Mother earth is an amazing place.

Thanks for the link, Jess, fascinating.

Now for a major droll factor; The Giant Crystal Project:

Big 'Uns

In reading about the Capillitas mine in Argentina, I found this somewhat disturbing passage:

"Unfortunately only little documentation work was done on this cave with the photo shown above believed to be the only one in existence. This cave was plundered very rapidly and the stalactites were cut and polished and sold worldwide, founding the fame of the Capillitas rhodochrosite. Mining for rhodochrosite continues into the present and about 100 - 200 tons of ornamental rhodochrosite are produced annually in these days. Possibly there is another great cave to be discovered shortly and - hopefully ! - this one will be documented in more detail and preserved for posterity."

This is the despicable lockup philosophy and policy of the worldwide environmentalist movement. Mnerals of value should be mined freely so that all of humankind can benefit from them, not just the elitists who can afford passage to Argentina or wherever, to view them in situ. In this case, the beauty of the stalactites cannot even be seen until the stone is cut and polished, due to the ugly crust on the outer surface.