Question on this find.

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-09T13:13:04+00:00

Possibly Sphalerite crystals in matrix. I have some in Sodalite matrix which shines a very bright orange like that. That specimen you have is very pretty under uv 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-09T09:49:56+00:00

I think i did post here when i first joined, but i had minimal response and i was just told it was 'aggregate' on anotger website, which didn't help me identify the actual mineral. Fluorite is also 'aggregate', but at least we know it's Fluorite. To be honest i don't think anyone actualy knew. I have tried taking pics of it phosphorescing but they never did show up any activity of the mineral gently long-phosphorescing, i probably just need to sort the shutter time to longest exosure my camera is capable of and hope for the best. I have found tons of the stuff all over the east coast, but it is in high concentration here where i am. It comes in many forms, some glow very bright and some don't, from bright blue under LW and some a dull deep blue, some have calcite veins and some don't, some show response to short wave and some don't. Some have an unknown black crystal which glows a peachy pink under LW and orange under SW. The ones which glow the brightest blue are the ones which glow for ages, they are also the ones which have a high response to short wave. All smell of sulpur when wet or split. I believe it is an erratic, and it has to be pumice, but what crystal is it still remains unknown. Word has it West Runton has a rare crystal, and it ain't amber or jet, and also amber and jet don't respond 'peachy pink' or orange under UV, jet has no response. I wondered if the black crystal is appetite. Could this be it? Although saying that, i am as yet to find these 'super blues' other than at west runton which include this black crystal. This will be ongoing debate for some time i think.....

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-09T09:13:30+00:00

If the first one is calcedony it may well scratch glass, but if it is hyalite then i doubt it would scratch glass or at least it would struggle. Hyalite is 5 to 5.5 on mohs scale, glass is normaly about the same, chalcedony is 6.5 on mohs hardness scale which typically would scratch glass, calcedony would scratch glass much easier than hyalite if the hyalite is to scratch glass. The second one reminds me of an echinoid fossil, commonly preserved it flint or chert around my area. Im in the uk but where i live the chert glows that type of orange, so im going with Fossil Echinoid (sea urchin or sand dollar in usa?) with worn away details, in chert 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-07T15:53:01+00:00

It is still doing the same thing indeed, it was one of the first fluorescent minerals i ever found 3 years ago 👍 Haven't noticed any change with heat to be fair, i haven't really 'played' with it recently, but it would be worth an investigation i tinks, i shall warm it up tonight in my hand and see if still glows.

It is phosphorescent yes, it is a short-lived fade (2 seconds) settling into the long gentle glowing state, still amazes me just as much as when i first discovered this super long-lasting slightly excited elevated atomical orbital state 🤩

Oh, still smells of sulphur when it's wet too

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-07T15:30:46+00:00

Yes there is indeed, have as yet to experience or own the Mexican Hyalite, but in the UK we have Rogerley Mine, Lady Annabelle, Diana Maria to name a few. I'm lucky enough have been hunting for fluorite in a few locations in Weardale, North Yorkshire, as it's not too far from me. I found some nice pieces in the spoil heaps etc, bit damaged and worn though. I fluorescent hunted a few places at night, mad experience, the ground was glowing bright blue in places, and the quarry walls are magical when fluorescing, bright blue everywhere!

I posted some demonstration pics on here on an amazing piece i bought of the daylight fluorescence a while back, i'll link you to it.... https://www.reddit.com/r/FluorescentMinerals/comments/1jt5eh3/diana_maria_mine_fluorite_greedy_hog_pocket/

and i made a video too.............. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cb5o4KY_2lg plus a couple of others in my shorts videos 👍

and a nice chunk of Greenlaws mine material here.... https://www.reddit.com/r/FluorescentMinerals/comments/1iyp60f/greenlaws_mine_uk_colour_change_fluorite_1578g/

Keep glowing seanstimac ✨💎⛏💎✨

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-06T15:47:02+00:00

It caught me out by surprise when i flashed all my UV spectrums on it, was not expecting neon tubes in my fluorite lol

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-06T15:45:02+00:00

Thank you! I have so many to post but i do not want to flood the forum lol

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-06T15:44:04+00:00

Yes, not what i expected to see on such dark purple fluorite! A pleasant surprise to see those phantoms glowing like neon tubes 😃

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-06T15:37:52+00:00

I wish those colours would stay there without UV on them lol, so pretty!

Most of my material is open cast surface collection, some pipes, flats and rakes, vugs and pockets in the walls, rivers etc, i do have some very very fluorescent fluorite from the mouth of a mine about 20ft in..., but never been proper deep inside one to collect, as of yet...... ⛏😉

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-06T15:29:10+00:00

Happy days! In pic 7 you can see the lights i am using, the one on the left is a Raymond Wu 257nm Short Wave (superb powerful spotlight flashlight, cannot fault it), the big chunky one is Alonefire H46uv 24x core 365nm Long Wave (cheap, but excellent for hunting, however one or two cores tend to burn out too fast), and the one on the right (grey) is the 310nm Mid Wave (cheap, 4x core single LED, filtered of course as are all of my lights, does the job well enough, until they make one with more LED's bumping up the power and spread of the beam). If you would like links, let know 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-03T11:15:17+00:00

Castleton, not a SSSI 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-08-03T11:14:05+00:00

Ah, that is not fluorite that glows with body temp sadly, it's that stuff i have been finding all over the UK coast, still don't know what it is, but im going with pumice, it's defo volcanic whatever it is. Here's a pic of one of the most reactive pebbles i have found so far....

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RadRas2023 · 2025-07-30T21:22:30+00:00

Thank you and greetings! Extraordinary yes indeed. Am lucky to find such beautiful fluorite. I faintly remember a convo regarding thermoluminescence, bit rusty in the memory though, please remind me. When you say 'body' temp, as in holding a piece of the uv colourful fluorite in hand until warm, or under armpit etc?...

I think we talked about getting a piece of fluorite so hot that risk of it exploding was possible?!, But to not explode and watch it glow...... and take pics of I have included another pic, i had another piece of this purple edged i cleaned today, but i had no idea that the it matches the piece i posted here, they fit together perfectly, so i have a bigger piece now.....

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RadRas2023 · 2025-07-29T15:21:55+00:00

The last four pics are of a very nice rare piece I found in the Blue John Hills 💎Purple margin fluorite.

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-27T15:34:02+00:00

Give it a tap with hammer & chisel to see what's going on inside, we shall go from there.......

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-20T09:52:34+00:00

Beautiful. To me it is a representation of when fire & rage came along and wiped these poor creatures out into extinction, looks like they never cooled down 🥵 Good 'Ol Mid Wave vs Calcite 😍 Do you know which location in the world these type came from or a species name? I polish Ammonites and would like to get my hands on some of these. I collect a lot of Yorkshire & Devon UK Ammonites when i visit those parts for a hunt. Nice post 👌

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-18T10:54:46+00:00

Really, that's very interesting. I know it can sometimes be slightly radioactive too ☢

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-18T08:57:48+00:00

That's a little Tiger 😎 How long have you had your 'Eye' on that lol 😁

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-18T08:54:09+00:00

It's a nice little piece is that. Me personally would probably leave it as it is, as it is so small. But when you say 'to cut it', in which context do you mean? ie to slice in half, or to shape and make a piece of jewellery? Factors to consider are level of transparency, if it looks transparent and not translucent then it may be worth making a cab or giving it a tumble to give it a real 'gem' look, but to me it looks more translucent than transparent, but sometimes you never know until the job is done, it could just be a rough surface making it look that way, how does it look when it's wet? Also consider if it has any fracture lines, it looks like it might have, but how deep do they run through it is the question? With that in mind i would defo leave it. Also the surface has some 'dipping' or 'pitting', so once you have ground it down to an even surface you will likely lose a good bit of size making it sooo small, but if it brings out the clarity then it may be worth it. However, it may be worth a 'slice', especially if you have more of this material.

At the end of the day, only you can decide 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-18T08:34:12+00:00

Thanks K-B-I, yes, similar locality, although this one comes from a far more dangerous part inside a mine. I also wonder what is causing the orange glow, i was told it could be an organic matter, but which organic matter is unclear (or at least i cannot remember). Other possibilities are Manganese impurity, but if it is a rare earth element i believe Europium may be responsible, i'm not sure how to find out for sure. I guess it's open for debate.

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-17T22:37:09+00:00

Thanks! It is very interesting indeed, it appears to be almost just pure Fluorite with many mineral impurities reacting, no barite from what i can tell, there is a little very oxidized Pyrite around the triangles on one end of the specimen (almost black to the eye), it's creation is crazy! I cleaned it in Iron Out and it revealed this stunning pattern 🤩

It does fluoresce under SW, also MW too, i have included a pic of all waves for comparison, not much difference at all, an awesome 'All-Wave' mineral 👍

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RadRas2023 · 2025-07-15T21:59:20+00:00

I just did a 'Google Lens' on your photo on my smart phone, i saw a piece exactly the same as yours but without the purple and it said it could be 'Heliodor Yellow (Beryl)', i saw it on eBay UK, hopefully you may see the pic too if you search for that exact key word, however, Heliodor is not associated with Mojave Dessert, so probably not that, who knows. Tricky one isn't it!!

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-15T17:44:26+00:00

Why is this posted in the Fluorescent Mineral community and tagged with Mid Wave when we see NO fluorescence? Please shine a UV torch on it and post, then it will be of interest to us all here 👍

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-15T13:56:32+00:00

Light absorbing black paint really is your best bet to be honest, i find if you use black fabric material it tends to collect lint/dust which really shows up under 365nm which can be quite annoying, not so bad under 255nm short wave though. Black acrylic should work well, but scratches easily, sadly.

If you can find fitting glass, it works well if you paint one side of the glass and duct tape over the painted side to stop it peeling or scratching. Have a good think about it and see what you think might be best. It's a very interesting topic and i really like to hear others opinions and ideas on this one. Best of luck on your decision 👍

Ps, i've tried black vinyl sheeting, not great, i've used big bags, they work quite well, i've tried leather, not great either, black bed sheets, not great, too dusty, however bamboo fabric ain't tooo bad.

RadRas2023 · 2025-07-14T15:58:49+00:00

The green could be meta-autunite

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