The Cutting Edge. Kerry Day

Transcription

1 The Cutting Edge In this month s Newsletter: Monthly Newsletter of the Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club President s Message p. 1 OLMC March Meeting Tucson 2018 Mineral Show p. 2 MiG Meeting, Gems and Minerals in Russia p. 3 Walker Club March Meeting p. 4 Mines Seleine Québec s only salt mine p Gem, Mineral and Jewellery Show & Sale p. 6 OLMC Classified p. 7 During the winter of 2016/2017 there was a flood in the basement of 1000 Brookfield which caused $40,000 in damages that insurance didn't cover. Our share was just over a $1000. There is interest within the executive of changing the club's status from "For profit" to "Non-profit". It is no easy thing. Back in 1997 the club executive at that time made the club a "For profit" Ontario corporation. The workshop is up and running but Wednesday will be on reduced hours in March because our workshop supervisor Jean-Guy will be travelling. Workshop calendar p. 9 Membership form p. 10 Workshop Address: 1000 Brookfield Road, Ottawa Mailing Address: Room #22, 1000 Brookfield Road Ottawa, ON K1V 6J1 Phone: GEMS (4367) Website: Facebook: OttawaLapsmithMineralClub There is growing interest in a beading course that might happen in the spring some time. Kerry Day Newsletter Editor: All members are invited to submit articles, proposals, or any thoughts that could be included in the newsletters. Also, feel free to send your Classified ads by to: News@OLMC.ca Stéphane Jetté, OLMC Newsletter Editor

2 Tucson 2018 Mineral Show Thursday, March 8, 2018, 7:30 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Location: OLMC Workshop 1000 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, ON Club Meetings! We all meet to share our knowledge and interest about gems, mineral, and jewellery! For details or comments please contact: Kerry Day will give a slideshow on the Tucson 2018 mineral show. Featured will be a mix of minerals, fossils, lapidary rough and the fakes hitting the market. April meeting - General meeting and annual swap night. May meeting - Annual show and tell. June meeting - Summer auction Attention Members! OLMC s 2017 Annual General Meeting will be held on April 12 th, All executive positions are open for nomination. If you think you can help, you can nominate yourself. We need all the help we can get! The list of current executive committee members is on page 9. Please send your nominations to pres@olmc.ca. A copy of the 2017 Financial Statement will be available at the workshop after April 1 st. We welcome any suggestion from all OLMC members! OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 2

3 Gems and Minerals in Russia Monday, March 19, 2018, 7:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Location: OLMC Workshop 1000 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, ON Canadian Museum of Nature Research Associate Gemmologist Willow Wight attended the 30th International Gemmological Conference held at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia in July, Accompanied by her husband, Quintin, she joined in the pre-conference and post-conference tours of diamond, emerald, and demantoid garnet mines across Russia from Mirnyy in northern Siberia to Ekaterinburg and Arkhangelsk. Willow and Quintin together will describe aspects of the journey, illustrated with photographs of the mines, their products, and some of the spectacular finds. They will also cover some of the magnificent collection of the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, and the Urals State Mining Museum in Ekaterinburg. The nature of the occasion merits some short mention of the local scenery and geology as well" Willow in the depths of the Malysheva Emerald mine, north east of Ekaterinburg, Russia. This fabulous display of uncut diamonds was prepared by the Alrosa Company Limited to celebrate 50 years of diamond mining in Mirnyy, Yakutia, Russia. There is no glass on the case. The artist is the lady at the back. She's known throughout Russia as the artist who paints with diamonds. The red stones are associated garnets, and the green, diopside. John Montgomery, OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 3

4 The Walker Club would like to invite members of other Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CCFMS / ) clubs (which include the OLMC) to attend our March meeting on the 14 th. It starts at 8:00 pm at the University of Toronto. Please come a little early. Location Department of Earth Sciences Center 22 Russell St. Toronto. Please enter by the West door as other doors are locked. On street meter parking is available, or the Spadina street car from the Bloor Subway are the most convenient. Further Information, Steve Szilard - sszilard@rogers.com Extracts from: Mines Seleine, a K + S Windsor Salt Ltd. property, is located on Grosse-Île in the Magdalen Islands. It is Québec s only salt mine. OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 4

5 History In 1972, the Québec mineral exploration board SOQUEM discovered the salt domes on the Magdalen Islands, including the dome on Grosse-Île. There are seven domes in all. One of the domes, the closest to the surface, is located under Grosse-Île, and rock salt has been mined there since The salt is used for road de-icing. How were the domes formed? The Magdalen Islands are located at the centre of a vast undersea plateau known as the Magdalen Shallows. A surprising fact is that around 360 million years ago, the plateau was actually situated on the Equator. There, it formed a sunlit valley that was periodically flooded with saltwater from the sea. The strong sunlight caused the water to evaporate, leaving a deposit of salt. Over several million years, hundreds of metres of salt crystals formed, and were then compressed and hardened to form rock salt. As the continents drifted apart, the Magdalen Shallows left the Equator and moved to their current position in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is thanks to the buoyancy of the salt domes beneath that the Magdalen Islands emerge from the waters of the St. Lawrence. Mining to a depth of 489 metres Although the domes are close to the surface, mining takes place underground, at a maximum depth of 489 metres. Mines Seleine uses a room-and-pillar mining method, explained below. Mining takes place on several levels. The mine workers use a ramp to access the various levels of the mine. Each level is mined in a way that creates empty rooms between a series of pillars that hold up the roof. A cutting machine is used to make a clean horizontal cut at floor level. Each cut prepares the wall of the room for blasting, over a width of up to 25 metres. Drillers create horizontal and vertical drill holes to prepare for blasting. Several galleries allow equipment to be driven through the underground network of rooms. This can be seen in a video of Premier Philippe Couillard, announcing the signing of an agreement between Mines Seleine and the Québec department of transport, sustainable mobility and transport electrification transport to provide de-icing salt to make Québec roads safer in winter. The Québec Mining Association also addresses the same topic in a humorous clip that can be viewed here (French). The mine produces over 1,300,000 metric tonnes of salt each year. OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 5

6 2018 The 52 nd annual gem, mineral and jewellery show for the club will be held at the Nepean Sportsplex, September 15-16, Unfortunately, the club could not get the next weekend, but maybe next year. Based on last year's post-show meeting, there are some intriguing ideas to make improvements including advertising and how certain areas of the show could work better. One of those areas is the position of Show Chair. The club should not rely on the same person year after year to organize this critical activity, until that person suddenly leaves. I hope that one or two other club members could take on this role once or twice in order to provide a reliable backup team in case of an unforseen disaster. The Show Chair is a single point of contact for the show, can delegate tasks to the team, and makes sure the work stays on track. In my opinion, a person who already has experience managing a small team or who has some project management background will do well. For anyone who wants to learn these skills, it is a great opportunity. I look forward to mentoring anyone who is interested. The Executive Committee appoints the Show Chair after the Annual General Meeting in April. Also, everyone, please consider volunteering for some sort of task at the show, whether it is helping to advertise, for setup/takedown, or for a two-hour shift at one of the booths. I think they are all enjoyable experiences, and the time passes quickly. Of course, you would still find plenty of time to take in the show and shop. Eric Clara Show Chair showchair@olmc.ca OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 6

7 As of this moment it looks like a go! We will depart Ottawa Saturday April 21 st and return Sunday April 29 th. The game plan is to do 3 days of collecting, mostly by boat, to some of the more obscure localities and two or more days touring museums, private collections, touristy sites, etc. We will have a collecting guide. We have been invited to visit two private collections to date. Costs to participants have yet to be determined. Tides will be most favorable April This fieldtrip may be scrubbed at the last moment due to a week of bad weather. No rock is worth dying for in the cold cold ocean! Kerry Day, pres@olmc.ca Image from We are Jewelery and lapidary supply house located in Montreal,Quebec since 1989 we are sole distributor for Lortone products and other lapidary supply houses in USA. With a valid OLMC membership cards we offer 10% discounts on most of our products! Best Regards, Sam Korcu, info@unitecinc.com Unitec Import Inc / Cathcart street, suite 721, Montréal, Québec, H3B 1M1 The owners of La Fibule ( have offered to visit the workshop and provide a design/fabrication course on a weekend, free of charge if the club can provide accommodation. Would anyone be interested? Let us know, and we can explore further what would be feasible, OLMC Executive (see our s at page 9) or to any Workshop Supervisor OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 7

8 The club has just received a donation of many items. These are gemmological instruments and the owner who is retiring from the profession wants them to go to someone who can use and truly appreciate them! There are the following items: Microscope, The Gem Dichroscope, Ohaus -weight scale, Prism Spectroscope, A D Leveridge weight & gauge estimator, Rayner Refractometer, Light source, Fibre Optic-lite Illuminator, Polariscope. The replacement value for all of the above is estimated at about $3950. The resale value on the used individual items should be about 1/2 of retail. I ask $1800 for the lot, and would not settle for less than $1500. If you are interested in purchasing any or all of these items, please contact me Eileen Moss at emoss@cogeco.ca or go visit this link: OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 8

9 Contact: President Kerry Day Vice-President Arnold Roos Secretary John Skelton Treasurer Rita Hudec Workshop Chair Jean-Guy Bradette Membership Chair Nathalie Bourget Program Chair Russell Black Newsletter Editor Stéphane Jetté March 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 4 5 Carving Faceting 6:30pm-9pm MiG meeting 7:30pm-9pm Carving 6:30pm-9pm pm - 9pm 14 4pm - 9pm 21 4pm - 9pm 28 2pm - 9pm OLMC General Meeting 7:30pm-9pm 15 Board Meeting 7pm- 9pm April 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 Faceting 6:30pm-9pm 8 9 Carving 6:30pm-9pm MiG meeting 7:30pm-9pm Faceting 6:30pm-9pm Shop Close pm - 9pm 18 2pm - 9pm 25 2pm - 9pm 12 OLMC General Meeting 7:30pm-9pm 19 Board Meeting 7pm- 9pm We are on Facebook, join us! OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 9

10 Membership Application for the Year: 2018 New Membership Membership renewal $20 Single (one individual) $30 Family (2 or more persons under the same residence) $60 Annual workshop access fee (optional) Name: Address: City: Province: Postal Code: Tel.: Please specify how you would like to receive OLMC s newsletter: By By mail Do you need a receipt? Yes No Administration use only: Card provided: Yes No Supervisor signed: Yes No Payments are payable to Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club. Please mail your membership form and fees to: Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club 1000 Brookfield Road, Room #22 Ottawa, ON, K1V 6J1 OLMC phone: Other services: $25 Members Newsletter advertisement half to a quarter pages per calendar year; $55 Businesses Newsletter advertisement (advertising fee plus a business membership). Locker Fee: $25 per year depends on locker availability Mandatory Workshop Course for Making Cabochons: $55 - required for all members who want to use the workshop machinery. Questions? Please contact us by phone or workshop@olmc.ca for details. OLMC s monthly newsletter March 2018 Page 10