September 2024 Business Meeting Summary

by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

President Kenny Reynolds welcomed and thanked everyone for coming, especially four past MSDC presidents for their service to the club. He then asked for and received a motion to approve the June business meeting minutes as published in the September Mineral Minutes newsletter.

First time visitors to MSDC?  John shared that he is new to the clubs in the DC area and has been on one field trip to PA, one picnic in VA, and is enjoying his new interest of collecting minerals.

Geology in the News

Kenny then asked if any attendees found interesting “geology in the news” and the responses included:

·       Brian called attention to the Sept 2nd New Yorker book review of a new publication by geologist Marcia Bjornerud, Reading the Rocks. Brian found the review’s description of its subject matter, the life of the Earth and her own life as well to be interesting. Her prior 2 books are Timefulness (deep time) and Geopedia. Marcia’s use of the term “deep time” he found to be particularly interesting.

·       Andrea shared that she has been having fun using a website called: DinosaurPictures.org where you can type in the name of any dinosaur and get lots of information. If you click on “see more” you can type in the name of any city and find out where it was on the Earth’s globe 170 million years ago, or for other time periods.

·       She also raised the question if anyone had more information on the large diamond found in Botswana. Several participants posted information on our chat page about this discovery and the earlier website Andrea mentioned. Many members chipped in that it was the second largest diamond found to date and one of 3 large diamonds found at that mine, weighed 1,000 carats, and that X-ray technology was used to find it.

·       Bill provided a comment about mammalian fossils seemingly being regularly discovered in Dorchester, South Carolina due to the assistance of the recent heavy rains.

·       Mike, a mining history buff, provided extensive information, including the website MiningHistoryAssociation.org, about the Association’s recent conference in Park City, Utah (a first for them). The website has photos of their field trips to historic mine sites and other geographic areas, deep silver mines, and displays of mineral specimens. The website also provides info on new start-up mining explorations and other topics, as well.

·       Bill reported seeing on Facebook that the Detroit City Portal, an underground tunnel associated with the Sweet Home Mine, is closing. This mine, of course, is famous for its spectacular rhodochrosite minerals. A YouTube video here has some background information that further explains this situation. Several MSDC members concurred if collectors have any specimens from this mine, their value may well be increasing.

·       John referenced a recent Washington Post article about a new theory for explaining the formation of gold. Members explained the new notion being that due to piezoelectrical pressure, gold atoms within the heated fluid passing through the quartz then migrate within quartz crystals and aggregate in the quartz seams. The following is from Wikipedia: “Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure and latent heat. Perhaps the following link also may be helpful: Earthquake-induced electricity offers answer to mystery of gold nugget formation | Research | Chemistry World

·       A further discussion of mining history ensued with regard to the use historic and contemporary us of cyanide in recovering precious metals in Utah at various mines. Again, Mike referred everyone to the MiningHistoryAssociation.org website for further explanations of cyanide’s use.

Old Business and New Business / Reports from Officers

·       Due to the need to get to our main speaker for the evening, Secretary Andy briefly mentioned some important “new business.” On September 24, our MSDC Board of Directors (BOD) will be meeting to discuss the club’s urgent need to support our ongoing services such as those related to finding and communicating with our monthly speakers. Our other services re finances, our newsletter and especially our use of social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) may need additional MSDC members to step up and help us meet today’s needs which are greater than those of yesterday.

·       John Weidner, Treasurer, reported that our club received two major financial contributions recently and he encouraged everyone to read the September newsletter which provides information on those gifts to MSDC. Kenny then read aloud the important story of the gift made in the memory of Frank Hissong and how it is being used to honor his memory and continue his work of teaching younger people about mineralogy. Kenny expressed his thank you to his family for this generous gift.

With no further business or officers’ reports, Kenny turned the mic over to Laura for introducing the evening’s speaker.