FLUORITE - Ladywash Mine, Eyam, Derbyshire.
Colourless, transparent cubic crystals to 15mms,
heavily laden with inclusions. (spec: c. 65x50mms).

BARITE - "Oakstone" variety.
Peak District, Derbyshire, England.
(polished slice, c 90 x55mms).

New finds of collector interest still take place. One such example is that of descloizite and vanadinite -
secondary vanadium species, uncommon to the British Isles.
And a few years ago, from Whitwell Quarry, near Worksop - just beyond the boundaries of Derbyshire -
a find yielded the best examples of the rare secondary lead species, scotlandite, mattheddleite, susannite and leadhillite
which rate well with their type-locality counterparts from Leadhills and Wanlockhead, in Scotland.

Elsewhere, calcite specimens found at the Stank Mine are classics, while more recently, excellent strontianite from the north Yorkshire dales has been found.

The strontianite is probably the finest produced in the UK with excellent crystals occuring, often in radiating sprays. Originally found in the 19th century, the deposit appears to have been overlooked and only recently re-discovered.

Interesting specimens of fluorite, barite, azurite and malachite have also been recovered from the mines in the North Yorkshire Dales in recent years.

Further south are some interesting deposits: Mottram St. Anthony, near Manchester, has some rare micro species and is the type locality for mottramite. This site has been mined over a long period and probably from Roman times.

On the limits of the area, in the Midlands, mineral sites of note are Ecton in Staffordshire and Burgham in Shropshire. Copper and lead minerals found include chalcopyrite at the former, and pyromorphite, at the latter.

AZURITE

Great Sleddale Mine, Swaledale, N. Yorkshire.
Rich coating of azurite as micro-crystals and botryoidal aggregates. (spec:65x50mms).

STRONTIANITE
Gunnerside Gill, Swaledale, N. Yorkshire.

left: A group of radiating crystals (spec: 45x35mms).
above: A transparent crystal to 7mms.

BOULBY MINE, CLEVELAND

On the east coast, at Boulby in the Cleveland district, a sedimentary potash deposit currently being mined
has produced some excellent world class boracite crystals in recent years, as well as a few specimens
of the much rarer, associated borate minerals, hilgardite, trembathite and ericaite.

BORACITE - Boulby Mine, Loftus, Cleveland.
A 3mm composite crystal.

BORACITE - Boulby Mine, Loftus, Cleveland.
A 3mm cubo-octahedral crystal.

HILGARDITE - Boulby Mine, Loftus, Cleveland.
Nodule with a cavity of reddish xtls. on boracite (spec: 30x25mms).

HILGARDITE - Boulby Mine, Loftus, Cleveland
Small blades (flesh-coloured by hematite inclusions) on boracite.