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Post by 150FromFundy on Jul 11, 2010 8:20:20 GMT -5
Scotch Lake Quarry, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia This is a very old place. The crystalline limestone that forms the bedrock is Precambrian, or over 540 million years old! The Scotch Lake Quarry was operated from circa 1900 to 1950 to supply dolomite, used as flux, at the Dominion Coal and Steel Corporation in Sydney. Problem is, all this other stuff got in the way. The mottled greens to reds on the cliff face are serpentine. That’s me in the picture. Mmmm, this one tastes like lead. There’s material of every size and shape to suit your needs. Don’t think you have to climb all the way up there to get it. The quarry floor is littered with easy pickings. In this photo alone I see dolomite (white), serpentine (lime green), pyroaurite (blue) and hematite (rust). Laura and I were on a tight schedule, so we only spent about an hour collecting here. The tailgate photos are wet to bring out the wide range of colour. The serpentine is reported as being “yellow, yellow-green, olive-green, blue, red and brown with a variety of patterns producing banded, spotted, streaked and mottled effects”. I think we found most of the list. I have seen beautiful cabs made with the serpentine from this quarry that are obviously produced using wheels and disks. Serpentine has a hardness of only 2.5. Does anyone know if soft material like this can be polished with rotary and/or vibratory tumblers? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Darryl.
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,772
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Post by adrian65 on Jul 11, 2010 22:57:06 GMT -5
Nice finds, very colorful rocks. And a beautiful scenery.
Adrian
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Post by Bejewelme on Jul 12, 2010 21:38:57 GMT -5
Darryl: Great trip, I enjoyed all the posts so I thought I would comment her since this one had the prettiest rocks, LOL. OUr serpentine cabs pretty well, I would think if you tumbled it all together making sure there was nothing else harder in there you would be OK, but I am a tumbler flunkie, so what do I know! Glad you are having a nice summer! Amber
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Post by rockrookie on Jul 13, 2010 20:36:24 GMT -5
those are great colored pieces ! --paul
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Post by Toad on Jul 13, 2010 23:05:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the great pics.
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