Author: Alan Molineux

The
bulletin
Newsletter of the
victor valley
Gem and
mineral club
Ph. (760) 243-2330
january 2010

1 2

Your officers for 2010
2010 Executive Committee
President……………………...Cyndy Mandell……………..244-7169
1st V.P (Membership)..Gayland Graves……………..902-3249
2nd V.P (Education)…….Val Costello…………………..963-3974
3rd V.P (Gem & Mineral Show chairman)
(Vacant)……...…………………………………………………………….
Recording Secretary….Alan Molineux……………….951-7064
Treasurer…………………….Kerry Molineux .…………...951-7064
Corresponding Secretary..Lynn Hallock…………...951-1736
Board Members
Don Pomerenke………….….868-5264
Lloyd Guilliam..………….…..962-6844
Ed Deren….………….………..252-7009
Carole Mc Michael..……..961-7659
Past President……………..Gil Gilbert………………….….868-6900
CFMS Representative...Pat Estes ………….…..…….948-7324
Standing Committee Chairmen
Wagon Master…………..Blaine Witte…………………….244-8211
Historian…………………….Joe Kosik………………………….241-0894
Maintenance……………...Ed Deren .………………….252-7009
Librarian………………….…Dwayna Barron………………..963-3974
Newsletter…………...…..Alan Molineux…….…………...951-7064
Sunshine Lady…………..Pat Coleman…………………….985-2388
Displays………….………….Andrew Turner………………..962-0095
Raffles……………………...Ellen Gilbert..…...……………..868-6900
Scholarships……………..Andrew Turner….…………...962-0095
Photography………….....Alan Molineux…………………..951-7064
Hospitality……………..…(Vacant)…….……………………….957-7414
Tailgate……….…………….Brett Ward………………………948-1232
Virgil Melton…………………….948-2849
Training Coordinator..Lloyd Guilliam…………………962-6844
Instructors
Ed Deren, Jim Fosse, Gil Gilbert, Virgil Melton, Joe Kosik,
Pat Estes, Gayland Graves, Don Pomerenke, Charles Toles, Cyndy Mandell and Lloyd Guilliam
Club Website—www.vvgmc.org

2 2

The victor valley gem and mineral Club
was organized in 1947 and has been the focal point of High Desert rock hounds for the past 61 years. The club takes active roles in various civic activities. Membership is open to all persons interested in the gem and mineral hobby and lapidary arts. Meetings are held at the clubhouse located at 15056-B, 7th Street (behind Kaman Bearing) in the center of Victorville. Visitors are always welcome.
For further information,
call (760) 243-2330.
Meeting dates
Our December Christmas Party was held on Tuesday, 15th at 5:00p.m. and the January general meeting will be on Tuesday the 26th .
Front cover
Our youngest member! Members Andrew and Natalie Turner had a baby boy—Donovan! I thought it was apt to put him on the cover as we usher in a new year of lapidary—62 years for the Victor Valley Gem and Mineral club.
New board and
committee officers
We have a new board and new committee officers so take the time to look at page 2 for updates….Ed

Upcoming shows
January 16th & 17th.
Exeter, CA
Tule Gem and Mineral Society
Exeter Veteran’s Memorial Building
324N. Kaweah (Hwy 65)
Hours: Saturday 10—5p.m.
Sunday 10—4p.m.
Don Viera (559) 732-7739
Pepper Okada (559) 733-5842.
February 12—21.
Indio, CA
San Gorgonio Mineral & Gem Soc.
Riverside County Fair & Date
Festival.
Gem & Mineral Bldg., Building #1
46—350 Arabia Street.
Hours: - 10a.m.—10p.m. daily.
Bert Grisham (951) 849-1674
bert67@verizon.net
Important Club Dates
March 12th, 13th & 14th,
2010-Tailgate
May 20, 2010 - Fair Booth
Last Saturday of Month -
Clean Up Day
May 20, 2010 Serendipity Day @ Topaz School

3

President’s Message
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays bring you comfort from family, company, and delicious food. 2010, wow! It seems amazing we are starting a new decade, but here it is. I am hoping for many positive things to happen in the next few years on a national and world-wide level. Some of those things you and I can take a positive role in like helping go “green”, using credit cards only when necessary, voting, eating healthier, and of course helping to keep our club productive.
We’ll have a wonderful end-of-the-year party honoring many people who make our club a better place and installation some of the members. Gifts will be handed out in the spirit of giving and having a little fun and laughter at the members’ expense. We’ll raise a little money to help with the expenses of the party and a slush fund to be used on this year’s party. Thank you to all who participate in the raffle by donating and/or bidding.
Some of you may remember a speech I made when I was seeking this position. If you weren’t in attendance at that general meeting let’s just say I had a long list of things I wanted to say, but I kept it brief. One of the important things I would like our club to achieve this year is the expansion of its community education program. Virgil Melton and Ed Skidmore have been working on this for several years by making presentations to Boy Scouts and in classrooms. We currently sponsor a booth each year at the county fair where we attract crowds of adults and children interested in lapidary. I’m hoping we can extend this exposure this year.
With a majority of our income coming from the rental of our Kaman Bearing property and only having a one-year lease signed by them this year I think we need to take a look at some possibilities that may arise if they were not to renew their lease next year. With so many brick and mortar stores going out of business and those buildings standing empty year after year I would like the club to have a five or ten year plan in place. This is the year to consider all our options and our future. What direction do you think we should take, what do you see in our future, where do you think we should be heading?

4

(president’s message continued)
We would like to hear from you and represent you as a board so please voice your opinion by talking to us, dropping a suggestion in the suggestion box, or attending our board meetings on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the club.
Another item I consider important is communication with members. I’m concerned that we might not be reaching the needs of our members. I plan to reach out with phone calls, surveys, and one-on-one conversations. Please feel free to email me cynmandell@yahoo.com or call me at home 760.244.7169 or on my cell: 760.508.1080 to let me know how we can meet your needs and let us know how we are doing.
Cyndy M. Mandell
.

5

January 2010

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Financial / Wellness / Month					1	2 Jacob Grimm’s / Birthday—1785.
3 Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	4 Instructor’s / Meeting 6p.m. / Board Meeting / 7p.m.	5	6 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	7 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	8 / Elvis Presley’s / Birthday—1935.	9
10 Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	11 / International / Thank you day.	12	13 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	14 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	15 / Martin Luther King’s / birthday in 1929.	16 / Diane Fossey’s / birthday—1932.
17 Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	18 / Martin Luther King / Day.	19 / National Popcorn Day	20 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	21 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	22 / Answer your cat’s / question day.	23 / Club clean up day.
24 Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	25 / No name / calling week	26 / Play Dough patent issued in 1965.	27 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	28 Workshop / 1p.m.—9p.m.	29 / National / Puzzle Day.	30 / Mahatma Ghandi / Assassinated in 1948.
31 Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.

Deadline for the February issue of the Bulletin is Monday, January,18th.Ph.(760) 951-7064 or email amolineux@gmail.com

6

7

Wanted—Rocks, Lapidary,
Materials & Equipment.
Call Charles Toles.
Home (760) 951-0372 Cell (760) 220-6748.

White Buffalo & other turquoise—from various states. Priced per piece
Contact Virgil Melton (760) 900-0507

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks,
Buy slabs, cabs & rough from Joe!
Brazilian, Moss Agate, Wood, Jasper,
and Obsidian.
There is a sale on Bolo cords.
Club members (any club) 20% off at my house or 10% off at gem shows. I sell crushed Agate, Wood & Jasper for tumbling at $1.00 per pound. Call Joe Kosik (760) 241-0894.

8

December Board
Minutes
Member, John Muensterman will assist Val Costello doing the Educational duties in 2010.
Pat Estes (our CFMS rep.) hoped the club would be able to send someone to Camp Paradise jewelry camp in 2010.
She and Virgil Melton are currently working on competitive showcases for the club.
The board decided on March 12th, 13th and 14th for next year’s tailgate.
The treasurer is writing a check for $125 for the cost of printing flyers for the tailgate.
No action will be taken on a per use fee for the shop as Gayland Graves found the vote for it or aginst it split 50/50.
6’ curb stops will be installed in the parking lot rather than 3’ curb stops.
The issue came up some months ago about current board officers and committee chairs not having to pay dues. It was decided to refer this to the club membership at a general meeting.
Cyndy Mandell showed the board a copy of the budget for 2010.
Lloyd Guilliam donated a voice recorder to the secretary to make his job a little easier.

november general Meeting minutes
Cyndy Mandell mentioned that the Finance Committee met recently and a report is being formulated for the board together with next year’s budget and financial policies.
Gayland Graves mentioned that next year’s dues whould be paid by December 31st, 2009 or a late fee of $5.00 would be levied.
Val Costello mentioned there would not be an Education Night in December as the Christmas Party falls on the same day.
Pat Estes (our CFMS rep.) said that club member, Sue Foreman was the winner of a free ticket to the jewelry camp at Zyzyx. She has photos to show around.
There is an upcoming CFMS show in Whittier on June 18th—20th.
The January field trip should be to Lead Mountain.
Kent Berryman was thanked for his work at the recent Gem and Mineral Show, silent auction.
Jim Fosse was recognized for his work with the security camera system.
There is still more work to be done on the resurfacing of the parking lot.
Virgil Melton and Ed Skidmore will be lecturing to the students at the Lewis Center on geology on December 9th.
Gil Gilbert auctioned off (2) display cases. Ed Skidmore bought them.

9

Rock of the month
By Gayland Graves
Rhodochrosite is usually a gangue mineral of copper and lead ore veins, but sometimes it occurs (like siderite) in pegmatites. At Butte, Montana, it was an ore of manganese. Commonly alters to black manganese oxides on weathering, and the black stains are very apparent on the containing rocks. Good specimens not common. Fine crystals have come from several mines (American Tunnel, Sweet Home) in Colorado, where it forms deep pink rhombohedral crystals up to several inches (10 cm) across, associated with pyrite, fluorite, quartz, and ore sulfides. Butte produced rhombohedral and scalenohedral crystals to 1 in. (2.5 cm) in crusts as well as solid cleavable and granular masses, always paler than the Colorado material, of a milky pink color. Pegmatite rhodochrosite is often grayish or brownish. Botryoidal masses and scalenohedral crystals--secondary in character, for they incrust limonite--have come from Germany (where it has been called Himbeerspat, or "raspberry spar"). Rosinca is a name applied to an Argentine occurrence of banded onyx-like pink crusts used for decorative purposes. Good but often thinly quartz-coated crystals have come from Cananea, Mexico. Hotazell, South Africa, has produced many gemmy, deep red Ɖ-1 in. (1-2 cm) crystals of an uncommonly transparent nature, which can perhaps be regarded as the most unusual specimens for collectors. Pasta Buena, Peru, has become a source of Colorado-like pink crystals with similar fluorite associations.
The cleavage and hardness (and acid test) show it to be a carbonate of this group. The borax bead test shows it to be a manganese mineral and eliminates about everything else. Pink color is the best guide
Dissolves slowly in cold and rapidly in warm hydrochloric acid with effervescence. Powder colors borax bead violet in oxidizing flame (test for manganese).
Manganese carbonate (61.7% MnO, 38.3% CO 2 with any or all of the following present: iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and cobalt).
Deep rose pink to pale pink, gray, or brown. Luster vitreous to pearly; hardness 3Ɖ-4; specific gravity 3.4-3.6; fracture conchoidal; cleavage perfect rhombohedral. Brittle; transparent to translucent

10

Around the shop

We have plenty of old equipment out in storage.

There’s rocks out here just waiting to be used.

We have a new overhead projector. Kris Koch is helping with club clean up.

Ed Deren is operating a pressure washer. As I walked through the club I saw
we had new dop pots. You really ought to try them out!
As I mentioned on the calendar (in the middle of this issue), there is another
club clean up on Saturday, January 23rd. We really need you to get behind
this effort to keep the club clean and maintained.

11

Snail
Mail
Stamp

Another
bulletin
Expressly for

Victor Valley Gem & Mineral Club
15056-B Seventh Street
Victorville, CA 92395-3811.
bulletin is the official monthly newsletter published by victor valley gem & mineral club and is distributed free of charge to both members and non members.
Views expressed by authors in the articles which appear in the bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of victor valley gem & mineral club. Responsibility is taken by the editor alone.
Articles from this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in other lapidary news-letters if proper credit is given to the author and the bulletin.

Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31