Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2007 News

Not really new, but still excellent (at least taking into account the number sold):

- Rhodonite from Mina San Martín, Chiuruco, Peru
- Descloizite from mina Preguiça, Portugal
- Amethyst with Calcite from the series of quarries in Artigas, Uruguay

Recycled collections:

- Philadelphia Academy
- what we took from Mexico, with lots of high quality materials, especially the Legrandites.

Given the failure of our camera, Roberto Appiani, excellent photographer for the Italian magazine Mineralógica Italiana (http://www.gmlmilano.it/pagine/Rivista_Min.htm) has kindly agreed to let us use two of his photos, which we have published below. The first is of the new Pyromorphites and shows their extraordinary color. The Chinese dealers say that these are from Daoping, like the ones found a few years ago, but I cannot guarantee that this is true. The second one shows the brown Titanite from Imilchil, excellent color and form.

Sunday 17 June We are off to Ste Marie! Let’s hope that we can connect to the Internet during the show and file daily reports on it. So far we have had few rumors of major new things. So, as is often the case nowadays, material from old collections is likely to dominate the show, especially from the Philadelphia Academy, which we hear will be available at the show. We will have a Mexican collection, a suite of exceptional Peruvian Rhodonites, which are very transparent, and as a more mineralogical item some Azurites and Smithsonites from Cantera San Valentín. Off course we will have the best among the Descloizites from the Preguiça mine and what we bought during Tucson From now on we will keep you informed of news about the show – we hope this will be useful. Jordi	Glück auf! is the Alsatian phrase in this Show. It could be translated more or less as: good luck!	Monday 18 June 2007 Tense calmness... Today is the day before the two days of set up, which awaits all the dealers. With the new layout of the theatre and the new requirements for dealers, much more strict (so if you are not a dealer you cannot enter the theatre before Thursday), everyone is a bit worried about how it will all work out over the next two days. There are lots of people about, although maybe fewer than in the recent years, but so far the jungle drums are still quiet. For example the Moroccans say that nothing major has been found there. We shall see, as we always tend to find that each day brings its own surprises.
Tuesday 19 June 2007 A long and very tiring day. The start of set up was delayed as the organizers had the strange idea of handing out passes to dealers on the first set up day, and with only two people working the lines were long and slow. It also took everyone time to understand the new layout of the Theatre and to get our stands ready. The queue formed this morning to pick up the dealer's passes and that worried many exhibitors.	Novelties: the new, very brilliant cyclic twin Rutile from Kipushi (Congo), the new Epidote in twinned Calcite from a mine called la Gringa near the Mina San Martín in Chiuruco, and the new Hematite-Magnetite specimens from Argentina, which are very brilliant as they have a second generation of well developed small Hematite crystals that cover the original large Magnetite crystals. There is also a lot of new material from Imilchil: brown Titanite, Stilbite-(Ca) with Chabazite-(Ca) and various feldspars.	One of the new multiply twinned Rutiles from Kipushi, Congo. Very similar to the ones from Magnet Cove, Arkansas, but much more brilliant.
Wednesday 20 June 2007 This is the day when all the set up must end, the minerals must be ready – so the show is now full of attractive items for the visitors that we hope will arrive over the next few days. Everything is ready, so let’s get going!	Our stand already done, with me doing the last touch.	More novelties: Saramenha Topaz, but red – they are extraordinary if you ask me and I have seen one like it before. Native Copper from Oumjrane, the Azurite mine near Alnif, Morocco – they are not of great quality but are still interesting. Let’s hope that tomorrow I have more time and can photograph some of these.
Thursday 21 June 2007 First day of the show, but with lots of rain (it rained cats and dogs last night) which caused a lot of commotion among the people with stands outside. The water came into the stands, boxes got wet, etc. At midday the clouds parted and Ste Marie returned to its normal summer look, but with less heat – so the afternoon was really neat. Lots of people wandering about outside, but less than normal in the Theatre. That was not an issue for us as the visitors that did come by were those who are really interested in our material. So they were able to take their time without the pressure they have had in previous years.	The famous Theatre's stairs.	Novelties: New Chinese Pyromorphites with well separated crystals, polysynthetic growth and crystals of up to 4 cm.. Their green color is impressive, very luminous and lively. We managed to obtain a few small specimens with crystals of about 1 cm, the crystals are on matrix and the color is even better than in the specimens that are not on matrix. I hope to add a photo tomorrow.
Friday 22 June 2007 The weather was really bad today, lots or rain and it has been cold. Everyone outside in the tents has been very worried and also found it hard to cope with all the rain. The Internet connections have been poor for the last few days, so all I can do is add short notes and nothing else, I hope to add more tomorrow. A nice detail of Ste. Marie is that the old and the new still coexist together, as for example this old theater mask placed on the top of the modern walls of our stand	Saturday 23 June 2007 Well, our camera has now broken so we cannot provide the promised photos and the Chinese Pyromorphites will have to wait until we are back in Barcelona It as been a classic Saturday afternoon in Sainte Marie, lots of people, sun and a festive atmosphere everywhere. In the morning we had more rain but it looks like that has ended and tomorrow should be a nice day. As tomorrow is the last day and we have to pack up this will be the last message from the show. I will add more once we are back at base in Barcelona, where I can add photos of the Pyromorphites as well as my final thoughts on the show. For now, my own on-the-fly thoughts are that Ste Marie continues to be a neat show, even with all the rain and bad weather the atmosphere has been great and everyone seems to have a good time	In terms of minerals, as we suspected, there has not been much new on offer. That said, as we expected, there have been lots of great quality material from old collections. To all the novelties I have mentioned above I can add the Senegalite found in its original locality in Senegal and the recent appearance of Elbaites in Mogok, Myanmar, which are of a different habit, quality and color from previous ones. Music on the Theatre
Wednesday 27 June 2007 Now back home and with time to reflect I can give you my impression of the show, and in general it is positive. For all the changes in the theatre this year and the bad weather, the ambience was good and relaxed. This is the great thing about this show, and it is due to the fact that it is held in a small, pretty town, which sadly also means that the infrastructure is somewhat limited. So the positive side is also a defect as all who attend suffer to some degree from the lack of facilities. Having said that, the organizer, Michel Schwab, does everything in his power to solve these problems. Sometimes he manages it and sometimes he doesn’t, but everyone is very grateful for the efforts he makes, as we all feel that if the show moved to a new location it would probably lose its heart and prestige	Extremely intense green color of the new Chinese Pyromorphites. And great photo by Roberto Appiani!	Minerals: nothing major really new, lots of small finds and superb classic material (sometime even with reasonable prices) that have come from old collections that have put on sale. So nothing new, as that has been the main feature of the last few years, but no less interesting for this as, in my opinion, the overall range can still be considered to be excellent if we add together the small number of real novelties, the new classics (China, Pakistan - Afghanistan, Malawi...) the classic classics (Peru, Morocco, Brazil, Myanmar, India...) and the recycled collections. To end a quick summary of what we thought were the most interesting novelties of Ste Marie 2007. I have mentioned them before and now I have put them together as a summary in the order of their importance (in my opinion) – this includes a few things I have not mentioned before:
- Pyromorphite, China,” fluorescent” green in color and from (maybe) Daoping - Rutile cyclic twins, Kipushi, R.D. Congo - Enormous crystals of Epididymite from Mt. Malosa, Malawi - Topaz saramenha (imperial) of a red to reddish color, Rodrigo Silva, Brazil - Hematite pseudo Magnetite (Martite) with a second generation of brilliant crystals, Volcano Payun Matru, Argentina - Elbaites and /or Liddicoatites from Myanmar - Stolzite, new find from Ste. Lucie, Lozère, France - Senegalites found at the type locality of Kourou Diakouma in Senegal - Epidotes in twinned Calcite from mina La Gringa, Peru - Brown Titanite from Imilchil, Morocco - Stilbite-(Ca) with Chabazite-(Ca) and Feldspar from Imilchil, Morocco - Native Copper from Oumjrane, Alnif, Morocco	Titanite from Imilchil in an other excellent photo by Roberto Appiani	Not really new, but still excellent (at least taking into account the number sold): - Rhodonite from Mina San Martín, Chiuruco, Peru - Descloizite from mina Preguiça, Portugal - Amethyst with Calcite from the series of quarries in Artigas, Uruguay Recycled collections: - Philadelphia Academy - what we took from Mexico, with lots of high quality materials, especially the Legrandites. Given the failure of our camera, Roberto Appiani, excellent photographer for the Italian magazine Mineralógica Italiana (http://www.gmlmilano.it/pagine/Rivista_Min.htm) has kindly agreed to let us use two of his photos, which we have published below. The first is of the new Pyromorphites and shows their extraordinary color. The Chinese dealers say that these are from Daoping, like the ones found a few years ago, but I cannot guarantee that this is true. The second one shows the brown Titanite from Imilchil, excellent color and form.


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