WARRNAMBOOL GEM CLUB

   THE ALAN WOOD COLLECTION OF MINERALS FROM MT SHADWELL, MORTLAKE, VICTORIA.

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.

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