Determining local minerals using MINDAT

Well Hello everyone,

Today, I would like to present you with a site that has been very beneficial for me, MINDAT.ORG, using this site, one is able to view information on KNOWN mineral occurrences, old mines, current mines and anything related.

It is a great tool for determining what you have locally as well as a good place to begin your search when looking for mineral deposits of any kind, the site doesnt just cover precious metals but also gemstone mines and other mineral deposits, as they claim on their site, it is the worlds largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from.

Please keep in mind that MINDAT is ONLY for preliminary research to determine where minerals are located and has limited detailed information but has enough to at least give you a good idea of the geology and mineralogy of the area you are looking at exploring.


Link:

https://www.mindat.org/

A lot of my friends are geology nerds who will absolutely love this! Thanks for sharing, what a great resource!

Hello  @CanadianGoldHunter and  @ArcaneCollector . I just had a look at the site, and I can see how one could spend hours browsing it. It did however confirm that there are no minerals listed for my immediate vicinity or slightly wider area.    Guess I'll have to stick to Martin and eBay   .

The Cat's Mother wrote:Hello  @CanadianGoldHunter and  @ArcaneCollector . I just had a look at the site, and I can see how one could spend hours browsing it. It did however confirm that there are no minerals listed for my immediate vicinity or slightly wider area.    Guess I'll have to stick to Martin and eBay   .

That is most unfortunate that there are no good mineral deposits local to you unfortunately not all areas are geologically compatible for deposits of valuable resources, however there might be OTHER things your area has that could be beneficial, for example if your area has good clay deposits, one could hypothetically harvest the clay for commercial purposes (if that is permitted in your area) there is always a demand for clay as it is a construction material, many things are made from it and if you have a local ceramics shop, odds are they buy clay by the brick(if its the right kind of clay as not all clay is equal lol ).

There used to be a clay pipe works quite close to where we are now, which closed decades ago. Whether that was because they ran out of material to extract or whether demand for the product dried up. The garden subsoil is very clayey, but it isn't good enough quality for either bricks or ceramics: it's horrible sticky yellow stuff full of stones. Quite apart from that, to extract it in commercial quantities would require planning permission, and minerals consents require an awful lot of hoops to be jumped through. Permission would never be granted as we are in a residential area with no suitable vehicular access, and such operations would not be practically feasible. On a purely personal level, I'm none too enthusiastic on paying out several thousand pounds on a feasibility study and an environmental impact assessment on the off chance that there's a few bricks' worth of usable clay down there. Not to mention being lynched by the neighbours if I applied for consent.

understandable, I was just using clay as an example of a potential resource most would overlook and wouldnt be listed on Mindat

CanadianGoldHunter wrote:understandable, I was just using clay as an example of a potential resource most would overlook and wouldnt be listed on Mindat

Yes  @CanadianGoldHunter , I understand. There are old coal mines in the slightly wider area too, long since worked out commercially. Other than that there are no valuable deposits of mineral, and if there were they would belong to the landowner as we have no concept of unowned land in the UK. I'll just have to satisfy my magpie instincts elsewhere.
I'm very much looking forward to the posts and videos about prospecting though - all the fun and none of the hard work

My house is on Chalk. 

Joy
 

LOL

Admin wrote:My house is on Chalk. 

Joy
 

LOL

It's probably all the old fishbones from the port, compressed over the years. Good for fossils though, so you should be well suited.

The Cat's Mother wrote:

Admin wrote:My house is on Chalk. 

Joy
 

LOL

It's probably all the old fishbones from the port, compressed over the years. Good for fossils though, so you should be well suited.

I take great comfort with this joke knowing that you will always be older than me. 

I am a dinosaur .. lol

Good Morning @Admin . I'm pleased the heat hasn't finished you off.