Hi,
Just wondering whether anyone has fossicked for Willemite at the Puttapa (or Beltana) mine (just South of Leigh Creek in SA).
I have a new interest in fluorescent minerals (after visiting the fantastic Terrestrial rock museum in Georgetown, Qld), and Willemite looks tremendous under LW and SW UV Light.
I have written to the Puttapa Station owners, but am unsure if they are the pastoralists that encompasses the Puttapa mine, and if so, whether they can allow access to the abandoned mine.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
Here's some images of Willemite ore from Puttapa under a UV light. In daylight, it's generally a very bland whitish/grey colour.:
PS: At camp in the Dunolly State Forest last weekend, I found some scorpions at night after a very quick search (3 around my van) using my UV light and they shine brightly like small lighthouses. Very few critters fluoresce, and even scientists, who know the chemicals that fluoresce, have no idea why scorpions have developed this trait, as they hide under rocks or in wood-piles/leaf/litter during the day, and come out at night when there's no UV. Here's one pic taken by jwal a few feet up in an iron-bark tree:
Just wondering whether anyone has fossicked for Willemite at the Puttapa (or Beltana) mine (just South of Leigh Creek in SA).
I have a new interest in fluorescent minerals (after visiting the fantastic Terrestrial rock museum in Georgetown, Qld), and Willemite looks tremendous under LW and SW UV Light.
I have written to the Puttapa Station owners, but am unsure if they are the pastoralists that encompasses the Puttapa mine, and if so, whether they can allow access to the abandoned mine.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
Here's some images of Willemite ore from Puttapa under a UV light. In daylight, it's generally a very bland whitish/grey colour.:
PS: At camp in the Dunolly State Forest last weekend, I found some scorpions at night after a very quick search (3 around my van) using my UV light and they shine brightly like small lighthouses. Very few critters fluoresce, and even scientists, who know the chemicals that fluoresce, have no idea why scorpions have developed this trait, as they hide under rocks or in wood-piles/leaf/litter during the day, and come out at night when there's no UV. Here's one pic taken by jwal a few feet up in an iron-bark tree:
