A return to rockhounding at Sterling Hill Mine - Ogdensburg, New Jersey

Sterling Hill Mine - Passaic Pit - Fluorescent Wall display during the 2016 Super Dig. This display is not vividly bright to the naked eye when you are standing in front of it but my camera did capture the vivid colors of the different mineral deposits seen.

Growing up in New Jersey around my uncle Woodrow and Aunt Liz (avid mineral collectors) was my introduction to fluorescent mineral collecting. I remember visits with them to various these outdoor rock piles and thinking to myself, wow, these rocks glow all these beautiful colors. My earlier recollection was a visit to the infamous "Buckwheat dump" in Franklin, NJ.

It was only within the past 3 years that my sister and I started to revisit this long lost interest again. We have visited the Sterling Hill mine on numerous collector member days along with my niece and nephews in tow to once again find those elusive glowing minerals. For me, my last visit to the Sterling Hill Mine Passaic Pit sparked my curiosity about spending more quality time hacking away at a hillside for some cool mineral finds. I have slowly been cleaning my last batch of mineral specimens and admittedly I am getting a big bug to really start visiting other mines for some further more exotic collection adventures. It is quite rewarding when you start cleaning up your rockhounding finds and discover that the dull looking dirty rock with some odd markings becomes this beautiful rock full of various minerals and crystalline structures on it. Using the mineralogy classifications for identifying minerals while carefully sifting through a really ugly pile of rocks(tailings) is an acquired skill which takes time. I have recently spent time reading and familiarizing myself with some of my more favorite minerals. One current favorite which I would not mind finding a bucket full of specimens of is RHODINITE. A pink crystalline mineral found from the Franklin Mine in New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Zinc Company from 1897 to 1954.

RHODINITE(Non-Fluorescent) with Calcite(Orange) and Willemite(Green) shown under shortwave ultraviolet light

RHODINITE shown under daylight

At the Super Digg there were a collection of minerals in a "premium" caged in area that I roamed through. I plucked out some nice bright "Cookie Dough" pieces of Willemite/Calcite. The black non-fluorescent mineral is called Franklinite which was named in 1819 by Pierre Berthier for the type locality(location where a mineral is characterized) of Franklin Furnace, the original settlement name until it became Franklin Borough in 1913.

Calcite/Willemite/Franklinite shown under shortwave ultraviolet light

Calcite/Willemite/Franklinite shown in day light

In 1968, the New Jersey State Legislature declared Franklin New Jersey "The Fluorescent mineral capital of the world". The Sterling Hill mine located in Ogdensburg(south of Franklin) also produced zinc but ceased operation in 1986. Both mines are located in a VERY unique area of the New Jersey Highlands geology and have documented many mineral discoveries since the 1800's.

Here are some links to entities that are still in operation in this really cool area. If one is interested in collecting cool rocks, check these out ! You can visit these two museums and arrange to collect from the tailings removed during the mining operations.

 Franklin Mineral Museum

Sterling Hill Mine Museum