Princess Sodalite Mine

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Princess Sodalite Mine (previously the Princess Sodalite Quarry) is a sodalite quarry and retail shop, located near Bancroft, Ontario. The sodalite deposit was first discovered in 1892.

Contents

Nomenclature and history

Nepheline crystals at the mine, 2013 Nepheline-563031.jpg
Nepheline crystals at the mine, 2013

The mineral deposit was first found by Frank Dawson Adams in 1892. [1] Sodalite from the quarry was displayed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. [1] The Princess of Wales was given a gift of sodalite from the quarry in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. [1] She liked it so much that she ordered a shipment to decorate Marlborough House, in London, England. [1] Thomas Morrison, the quarry's owner at the time, named the quarry the Princess Sodalite Quarry after her visit. [2] The Quarry name continued through the 20th century [3] [4] until at least 2002. [5]

In 1999, the owners of the quarry donated a sodalite boulder to the Earth Sciences Museum at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. [6]
The quarry was owned by Paul Rasmussen and Carl Bosiak, the 8th owners, who sold it to the ninth owner Andy Christie. [2] [7]

Location and geology

Sodalite from near Bancroft Sodalite in nepheline syenite (Precambrian; Bancroft, Ontario, Canada).jpg
Sodalite from near Bancroft

The quarry is located four kilometres east of Bancroft, Ontario [1] on Ontario Highway 28. [8] It is on rock with calcite vein-dikes that intruded into nepheline gneiss rock, with nepheline prismatic crystals attached to the walls of the dikes. [9]

The quarry is the only source of sodalite in Ontario, where it was once nominated (but ultimately rejected) to be the official provincial mineral. [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gem, Kitchener-Waterloo. "Mineral of the Month: SODALITE." (2006).
  2. 1 2 Gordon, Michael (2015). Rockhound: An Experience of the North. pp. 79–87. ISBN   978-1-312-99297-9.
  3. ↑ James, Richard Stephen (May 1965). The Properties of Sodalite and its Petrogenesis at the Princess Quarry, Bancroft, Ontario (Thesis). hdl: 11375/18909 .
  4. ↑ JAMES, RS (1968). "An occurrence of sodalite at Princess quarry Bancroft Ontario". Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin. 61 (671).
  5. ↑ Larocque, A. C. L.; Stimac, J. A.; McMahon, G.; Jackman, J. A.; Chartrand, V. P.; Hickmott, D.; Gauerke, E. (1 January 2002). "Ion-microprobe analysis of FeTi oxides: Optimization for the determination of invisible gold". Economic Geology. 97 (1): 159–164. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.97.1.159.
  6. ↑ Rocks & Minerals; Jan/Feb 1999, Vol. 74 Issue 1, p64[ title missing ]
  7. ↑ Joyce, Gare (2004). Rockhound heaven. Canadian Geographic Magazine. OCLC   670443919.
  8. ↑ Avery, Pete, and Joaquin Cortes. "The Grenville Terrain, Canada Field Guide." 2006
  9. ↑ Joyce, David K. (January 2006). "Calcite Vein-Dikes of the Grenville Geological Province Ontario, Canada". Rocks & Minerals. 81 (1): 34–42. doi:10.3200/RMIN.81.1.34-42. S2CID   129157370. ProQuest   231984951.
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