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| Princess Sodalite mine |
The princess sodalite mine has been a destination high on my rockhound priorities list. When I was young, my uncle gave me a piece of sodalite, fascinated by its colour, and little did he know, that mineral would snowball my curiosity for the field.
( If theres one thing Ive learned from this, its, Give your child, or any child for that matter, a few of your specimens,
you never know who you will inspire )
Today couldnt have been better, it was 23C, early spring ( no bugs...yet), bright blue sky, and for the most part, it was me, by myself, digging all day. I had brought some carrots, a peach, few apples, and a mason jar of water
( cant forget the toilet paper!! ? all they have there is ? ONE ? outhouse ? )
This dig does not require any fancy tools, A simple rock hammer and maybe crack hammer would be good but even those are not necessary.
( One thing that would be a good idea to bring is a good pair of safety goggles tho ).
Other then that I brought a UV flashlight and my camera to test and capture what was around,
Of coarse, I get lost in picking and forgot to take pictures of what I was doing/found. lol.
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| Mine cart in front of Sodalite mine Ontario, Canada. |
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| Princess Sodalite mine |
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( It took a lot of work to get rid of the poles and wires, Im still tweaking it tho, needs a little more work on the right side, I will come back and post the update later )
The View driving in looks like something the group of seven would paint, a scene so perfect that even the overhead wires seemed to drift away as I became swept up in the beauty, fresh air and relief of knowing this past winter was finally behind us. There is an old mine cart that sits out front stacked with a rockhounds treasure. Across the road lyes a large body of water, infusing the air with an aroma impossible to capture in a glade plug-in
( can you tell I dont like those things?).
Ill be honest, this was one of the easiest drives to go rockhounding, I think it was nearly one or two turns off 62. There is ample parking, its a no worries type of place, if you want to head out to your car to eat lunch then go back to picking, you can. Its a very easy going vibe, thanks in large part to its owner.
Walking up, the gargantuan sodalite pieces greet you at the door
.drool........
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| Princess sodalite mine greetings rock. |
It was so bright that day I didnt even notice I was in the shot, lol. Ah well, it will have to do.
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| Princess Sodalite mine Ontario |
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| Sodalite |
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| Sodalite Ontario, Canada. |
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| spaghetti coral |
I managed to find a small specimen in the pile out back.
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| Conglomerate lava |
I also found some of the that brownish/red rock to the top-right. Its a lava conglomerate and from what Im told, its from around the Greece area.
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| Princess Sodalite mine shop |
The inside is a great little shop, they have all kinds of specimens from ontario and around the world. They have everything from home accessories, jewelery, sample specimens, healing stones, fossils, rock/mineral books, and info on other mines in the area. The owner is extremely friendly and the only reason I didnt get a picture of him was, I find it strange asking people I dont know for theyre picture. Other then that, He is willing to listen and help identify what you have, cant say enough good things about the man.
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| Amethyst tree |
I think the tree was a really neat piece. It caught my eye when I walked in.
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| Sodalite jewelry |
This is some jewelery made from the sodalite mine here in Ontario.
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| Sodalite jewelry |
Sodalite jewelery
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| Princess sodalite mine specimens for sale |
Sample specimens.
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| Princess sodalite mine specimens for sale |
Very reasonably priced specimens.
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| Princess sodalite mine fossils for sale. |
Fossil
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| Princess sodalite mine fossils for sale |
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| Princess sodalite mine fossils for sale |
Im gonna get one of these the next time I go, I was so tired at the end of the day I kinda forgot they were there.
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| Princess sodalite mine jade inuksuks playing hockey |
I really like the inukshuks playing hockey.
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| Princess sodalite mine specimens |
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| BISMUTH - Prices sodalite mine |
I actually picked up a piece of bismuth as a mothers day gift.
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| Azurite? |
Is this azurite?
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| Rock/mineral books sodalite mine |
Display case of healing stones, rock/mineral books and other accessories.
Native art.
1.
1.Calcite quartz 2. geode -amethyst 3.?
Geode.
It looked like they were making eggs out of pyrite.
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| Princess Sodalite mine Ontario - Black tourmaline |
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| Princess Sodalite mine mountain- Ontario |
This is the path to the rock pile, its not far from the actual building. VERY convenient when hauling a large bucket.
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| Princess Sodalite mine Ontario, Canada |
Mountainous area blocked off with roap so the little ones know where not to go
( good for a family outing,)
Please, dont let your kids yell and scream and throw rocks all over the place, this just ruins it for everyone else. NO EXCUSES PARENTS.
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| Princess sodalite mine rock pile |
This is the tailings pile, from what I understand, it gets filled up a few times a year with more rocks/minerals and the fun continues. While I thought it would be bigger, and at first I wasnt finding much, but this was all my fault and all to change in due time. I thought I would check the sides of the pile but that turned out to be a bust, so I thought, If they were dumping it in here it must be piled up in the middle, so the digging began and the beauties started popping out of everywhere.
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| Princess sodalite mine specimens from around the world |
These small specimens were just some stuff I didnt have, they are ( from right to left )
1-Green opal, 2-calcopyrite 3-green quartz 4-fuchsite
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| Rocks/minerals from princess sodalite mine |
It was late, I had only the kitchen light to assist me, I will have to take some more pictures as these ones did not do my diggings any justice.
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| Gems from princess sodalite mine |
These are some of the gem/minerals I found. There was a lot of apatite, some rose quartz and Im not sure what that black looking mineral in the top right is, well, its actually redish/purple but the camera cant pick it up. Also, there is a black mineral on the far left, to the right of the rose quartz, I think it might be black tourmaline?.
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| Fossils from Princess sodalite mine |
Some of the fossils I found range from clam shells to corals. They must have shipped these in from Ottawa/Montreal/Quebec because, I was just reading a book on fossils (road rocks of Ontario- Nick Eyles- http://www.amazon.ca/Road-Rocks-Ontario-Geological-Discover/dp/1550418599 ) and these look exactly like what was shown from Quebec/Montreal area.
( FANTASTIC book by the way, I will be picking up the entire collection )
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| Sodalite from princess sodalite mine Ontario, Canada |
Some of the pieces of sodalite I found.
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