Mount Shadwell  Back to top

Mount Shadwell is mainly of interest to fossickers for the peridot which can be found at the quarry.
However there are many other minerals that have been found in the quarry. These include calcites, anorthoclase, aragonite, aegirine-augite  and over recent years, Ilmenite crystals. Most of the specimens are in the 'micromount' size, but a number of nice cabinet specimens have also been collected.
The specimens shown below are part of the Alan Wood Collection. Alan has been collecting at the quarry over many years and has an extensive knowledge of the minerals you can find at the quarry.

The Ilmenite specimens at the quarry are comparatively rare, being found in volcanic vents which are only occasionally uncovered by the quarrying operations. For safety reasons, fossickers obviously cannot be allowed to enter such vents and so the vents are bulldozed during the quarrying operations. However,after the areas have been made safe, specimens can still be found in the scoria where the vents had been located. Both Alan Wood and John Chivers ( members of the Warrnambool Gem Club) have good ilmenite specimens in their collections.

The minerals below have been photographed in natural daylight, using a 35mm macro lens on an E 510 Olympus digital SLR camera.

Aegirine-augite (fine yellow crystals on quartz & olivine), 50mm specimen

Ilmenite crystals (loose)  scattered over a scoria base with calcite balls, crystals up to 25mm in size

Calcite on Ilmenite on scoria,  75 mm field of view

Calcite on Ilmenite on scoria, 50mm field of view

A large (25 mm) ilmenite crystal, with smaller ilmenite crystals and calcite balls

Calcite and Ilmenite crystals on scoria,  75mm specimen

Aegirine-augite on quartz, calcite and aragonite on scoria, 50mm specimen

Calcite balls and aragonite crystals clusters on scoria, 50mm specimen

Calcite balls on scoria, fluorescent under U.V. light,  100mm field of view

Calcite balls on scoria, 30mm field of view

Calcite balls on scoria, field of view 30mm

Some anorthoclase with pyrites coating 40mm specimen.

Some Mt Shadwell Anorthoclase showing clearly tubular inclusions as well as the characteristic cleavage pattern, 40mm specimen.

These two 'peridot' animals, a 'scorpion' and an 'ant', are some of Alan Wood's many creations!

Cabachons cut from volcanic bombs from the Mt Shadwell quarry. The denser red 'bombs' provide a cleaner, superior cabachon whereas the less dense 'green' bombs do not produce a good polish. The lefthand photo shows a  round cabachon including 'chrome diopside'.

   

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