Digging Deep....
While the Dusty Compass Museum's main focus is all about rocks and minerals within the Palliser Triangle...
There are also many reasons that pioneers and modern adventurers hunt for minerals today! In saying that, there are some wild terms that exist that you may never have heard of, and here is just a few...
If you are thinking of getting into Lapidary Arts, here are some key terms you should know about....
Rock Hounding
The official definition of a Rock-hound is to do the activity of searching for and collecting rocks, fossils, or minerals. Some people see this label as an amateur mineralogist, but many people carry it as a self-proclaimed badge of honor. It is a great term to call ones-self and a grand responsibility with great excitement at every turn at any location you travel to visit!
The name "Rockhound" is for an individual of any age, culture and status! It is of a person who has a keen eye for a stone that they are good at spotting and stops them in their tracks. Rockhounding raises your awareness of nature and is a hobby that evolves over time, a great appreciation of the colors, structures, and incredible metamorphic processes that the earth goes through through millions of years. This skill causes your senses and vision to sharpen, as you eventually begin to get picky looking for very specific things that brings you simple joy.
You can hunt, purchase, share, and adopt rocks and consider yourself as a rockhound.
Lapidary
Is the activity of a skilled/learning person who uses "lapidary" techniques with various stone/material of different levels of hardness. This activity involves cutting, grinding, and polishing to varying degrees. A saw & grinder cutter, polisher, or engraver of precious stones is also included in Lapidary and sometimes also involves the creations of faceting gemstones. Another process in this activity includes tumbling stones as well with different methods.
Minerals
Minerals are inorganic substances, which means that they do not come from an animal or a plant. Some examples of the most common minerals are metals such as gold, silver, copper, and platinum. It is a natural formed substance with very distinctive chemical and physical properties, composition, and atomic structure(sometimes man controlled/made). They are materials that are extracted from the earth by mining, quarrying and pumping.
Crystals
A crystal is an object that is arranged by formations of of atoms in a repeating pattern shape, such as a cube, triangles, octagons, hexigons and so much more. Crystals are naturally occurring but can be manmade and often are composed of mixtures or pure minerals. Crystal minerals are grouped into seven types of crystal systems based on their symmetry. The four types are: ionic, metallic, covalent network, and molecular.
Raw Stone
Raw stones are natural formations of a chuck of material that has separated itself from the original host rock in a rough or chipped away process. Typically Raw is considered naturally found as its original state as it would be from the earth. They have rough and sharp edges and have no defined shape or size.
Slab
A slab is typically a flat cut of a original raw rock in varying thicknesses originating from a piece of stone. They are generally used for paving floors, for covering walls or as headstones but in the world of Lapidary, they are the beginning process of where one starts before they carve out cabochons, gemstones and other jewellery & art creations. Slabs thicknesses for Jewellery ect. vary depending on the artists choice.
Cabochon
A cabochon is a type of gemstone that has been dome-like shaped and polished rather than faceted. They are smooth and allow light to enter at all angles on one side of the stone. They are likely to have natural inclusions and markings and the style of carving highlights other visual effects that include color, patterns, and structural effects. A cabochon may be made into any shape, but oval is by far the most common.
Faceted
Faceting is the Lapidary carving method of creating gemstones with flat, polished faces called facets with bases of varying degress in angled formations. Faceting maximizes a stone’s brilliance by refracting light inside the gem and reflecting light on the outside facets. Stones that are faceted must have a high harness factor in the Mohs department due to the pointed edges, so the gemstone can last a very long time after creation.
Tumbled
Tumbled Stones are rocks or minerals & other material that begin in a state of a natural rough formation, and go through a process where the stone or material goes through a process in a machine, referred to as a "Rock Tumbler" to give them a polished and smooth surface. To start, rocks are added into the tumbler, along with sand, water and coarse grit.
Hand Polishing
vs. Cabbing Machine
Polishing Stone & Material can be done in many ways such as hand polishing or with the process of a Cabbing Machine. Hand polishing includes the process of exactly as it is called with your basic hand strength and sanding papers and tools or with a dremel. You can start with various diamond bits and burrs to form the shape and then use the mini-smoothing discs to sand to the different stages for softness and then to the process of polishing pads with diamond compound to polish.
Another type of tool for machinery polishing other then a cabbing machine is a flat lap.These types of units use wheels with grit on a steel plate to lap your pieces flat. You create a grit slurry on the lapping head and grind your piece directly on the plate's surface. A cabbing machine is used for cutting and polishing flat and curved surfaces. It is a motorized, grinding wheel (sometimes many wheels) and accessories to grind and cut material to create cabochons, or cabochon gems. A faceting machine is also another type of polishing equipment, which is a complex tool used to cut and polish gemstones.
Artisinal Mining
The activity of collecting minerals and raw rock material from the surficial geology, which is unconsolidated sediments that are lying on top of the bedrock, soil, grass and in rivers. Minor surface scraping with hand tools can be involved with Artisinal mining but no motorized equipment.
Mining Operations
Mining is a process of activities connected with collecting and consolidating valuable or resourceful minerals from the surface or subsurface such as, mining for coal, diamonds, or gold. Mining is also understood as the process of extracting material with mechanical type equipment and tools.
Claims & Placers & Panning
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Any mining other than hand panning (with only a gold pan and a hand shovel) can only be done on a claim or lease. If you are wanting to mine for material in a medium to large scale operation with mechanical machinery you need to purchase a claim. Claims can be incredibly affordable to very costly amounts and that means you own the mineral rights but not the land. Because you do not own the land, you must have a understanding with the property owner to receive their approved access to enter your mine on their property. There are many available Mineral claims for private mineral ownership still in Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and across Canada that you can purchase.
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But if you choose to do small hand panning where you do not disturb the soil at a damaging degree then you can do "Recreational Mining".
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Here is the link for Saskatchewan details: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/mineral-exploration-and-mining/mineral-tenure/recreational-gold-panning-and-placer-mining
For Alberta: https://open.alberta.ca/publications/2426573
For BC: https://www.bcplacer.com/gold_panning_in_bc.htm
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Rules always apply the same no matter where you are within the Palliser Triangle Perimeter, that you can recreationally pan for gold ect. in any stream, only if you follow the specific provincial rules, using a gold pan, and you are not on/in a claim/lease, park, private property, reserve or Nations land. Always make sure you respect rules and your neighbor Canadians and because of this, you can have fun!
Slucing
Sluicing is the method of using the tool called a "sluice box" in a creek or river to use a flow of water to separate gold from gravel and debris. You can use a natural flow of water (if allowed) or you can have a homemade creek or fountain that does not disturb the natural state of the environment around you. A sluice box is a metal, wood, or plastic channel that has "riffles" and othertypes of mats laying inside in it to catch gold. Black sand and gold will collect in front of the ripples. When you are finished shoveling for the day, the box can be disassembled and emptied into a bucket or tub, and the remaining material (your black sand gold concentrates) can then be panned out.
Fossils & Petrification
A fossil is any type of material that is geologically preserved remains, an impression, or a trace of a living creature from various periods in pre-historic times. Some examples of fossils can be bones, shells, skeletons, stone imprints of animals or even microbes, fungus's, insects preserved in sap amber, petrified wood and so much more!
Mohs Scale
The Mohs Hardness Scale is used as a user friendly way to help identify minerals. A mineral's hardness level is a measure of its relative resistance to scratching. You do this by scratching the mineral against another substance of known hardness on the Mohs Hardness Scale.
How can I get into Lapidary?
Step 1. Pick up a rock you are curious about.
Step 2. Research what kind of rock you have.
Step 3. Bring it to the Dusty Compass Museum to have your rock inspected by our professional Rockhounds graders to be identified.
Step 4. Get yourself a small home depot tile saw with a non- serrated diamond blade to get started. Grab some safety gear like a dust-mask, hearing protection, & eye protection and a safe place to operate.
Step 5. Find out how much fun it is to find out what is inside of that rock!
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For more questions please feel free to email poppyslapidary@dustycompassmuseum.com
or click the link below!