Mining and Minerals of Colorado Summer 2015 Program
17 July 2015: "Prospectors" with Amanda Adkins, one of the miners from the popular TV series on the Weather Channel. "Amanda Adkins has been mining and prospecting in Colorado over twenty years now. She has extensive experience in gemstone prospecting and excels in finding and extracting valuable gem and minerals specimens in the high altitudes of Colorado's Rocky Mountains." From Amanda's Facebook. Amanda's topic will be collecting on Mt. Antero and the Colorado State Gemstone, Aquamarine.
22 July 2015: "Crystal Healing Therapy" with Marierose and Eric Anthony
Understanding the how and why crystals have healing powers. You will also learn some of the ancient history and the science behind some of the legends, in addition to balancing your body's energetic centers with unique and locally found healing minerals.
29 July 2015: "The Freedom Eagle" at the Mystic Eagle Mine alabaster quarry inside Mt. Sopris with Jeremy Dean Russell
Jeremy will present a short video and then speak about his work. This huge monolithic sculpture of a bald eagle, symbolizing the plight of our nation's veterans, is being relieved from the interior walls of the alabaster quarry. Jeremy will focus on the creation of the sculpture, its purpose and the many obstacles that had to be overcome in the permitting of his work. It remains a work in progress.
5 August 2015: "History of the Yule Marble Quarry" with Gary Bascom and Kimberly Perrin.
Gary traveled west in the early 1980's and landed a job in 1990 with the Colorado Yule Marble Company (subsequently Colorado Stone Quarries) as quarry superintendent/safety director. He left in 2013 when the quarry was sold to Red Graniti (an Italian company). Kim worked for Colorado Stone Quarries as administrative manager from 2001 to 2013. This program will cover the discovery of the marble reserve, pre-1941 history, operations from 1990 to 2013 and what's currently happening at the quarry.
12 August 2015: "Mace Mineral Collection" started by Greg Mace (born on this day in 1943).
This program will be hosted by Julie. Its content is a bit of a mystery at the moment as no one in the family has seen the collection since the mid-1980's. A discovery for all of us.
19 August 2015: "Modern Day Prospecting" with Robert Congdon
Robert moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1978. Logging, ranching and mining were the prevalent jobs. The mines paid the best ($8.50 an hour) and he was attracted to the challenges of mining: the daily struggle to figure out how to get the roof secure, deal with gasses and keep all the equipment running - and it started him on a 35 year prospecting journey in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. Locally some of his notable finds have been the lost vapor cave mines outside of Redstone, a lost gold camp on Mt. Sopris and the Alabaster Quarry at Avalanche Creek.
