Three Days In Utah - Topaz Mountain & Uranyl Opal

My second day in Utah was a long one filled with many different kinds of minerals. I woke up at around 4:30am. I was still a bit jet lagged and on Jocko's time, 4:30am is Navy Seal "Get At It" time. Actually, I love waking up that early. I feel much more productive during the day than getting up at 6am.

After a quick breakfast of leftover bacon dogs & yogurt I got at it.

The sun still wasn't up, but I was already headed over to the Searle Canyon Red Beryl Mine on the West Side of the Thomas Range, where Topaz Mountain is located.

A bit about the mountain range. It was created 7.5 million years ago. There is one main caldera which Topaz Mountain is part of. The mountains are rhyolite that contain gas bubbles where the topaz gasses coalesced into crystals. In addition to topaz there is red beryl, bixbyite, amethyst & quartz, hematite. Mixed into the range are large deposits of fluorspar with beryllium and uranium and opal. In fact the beryllium deposits are considered to be the largest in the world. Beryllium is a rare, important metal used in missiles, spacecraft and satellites.

I was given instructions on how to get there by the owner, but the first two tries I made wrong turns. It's easy to get turned around out here because there are so many off road roads, so I just relied on my GPS and quickly found the claim.

After parking at the base of the mountain I began my 15minute hike up to the claim.

I reached the claim just after 7am which would give me a few good ours without direct sunlight. It was in the high 90's during the afternoon so morning mining was essential.

The claim consists of several workings, the current pit, the upper pit, a lower bench and lower pit. The latter is where the uranyl tourmaline Holfertite is found.

This is the main pit. Both right and left holes contain softer zones of rhyolite that produce red beryl, topaz, bixbyite, hematite and very interesting pseudomorph garnets called Crunch Berries are Captain Crunch Berries. A pseudomorph is a stone that has been changed chemically by a different mineral after the first stone had already formed. I found several of the berries which was one of the main reasons I came to this location.

After a few hours of searching I finally found my first red beryl in the rhyolite matrix, but part of it was broken off.

The second find came shortly after mother nature called. The crystal was sitting in between some larger stones and my thinking is someone had actually dropped it. Can you see it?

By noon I was beat. Swinging a sledgehammer for hours in the heat will do that to you.

I decided to pack up and get out of the heat to the air conditioned truck waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain.

On my trip down I found the amethyst portion of the claim, the bench.

The amethyst is pretty cool. It comes in pale, smaller, druzzy crystals. Due to the heat I couldn't stay long so I was only able to get a few pieces. That gives me a good reason to go back.

A bit further down the mountain this guy was sunning.

I always wonder where they get their water in this desert environment.

When I got to the truck the thermometer said 99 degrees. I took an extended lunch, cooled down and drove to some other mines I had visited in the past, https://hive.blog/science/@rt395/mineral-mondays-6-topaz

Around 4pm I decided to check out an opal locality. The opal is really cool because it contains traces of uranium and fluoresces vividly under a black light. I take precautions with this material so don't think I am going to melt by the time you finish reading this post.

From what I understand the uranium is contained in the host rhyolite and the opal forms on top of it.

After collecting several specimens I called it a day and headed down to Cedar City for a hot shower and a comfortable night in a hotel.

The last post in this series will be my first day in Utah mining sunstones and beautiful topaz as well as cooking up some bacon dogs!