The four most dangerous minerals in the world

Hi mineral lovers! I'm Adrian and today i'm going to show you the four most dangerous minerals in the world. So...LET'S BEGIN!

Firstly we have the crocidolite, considered by many people as the most dangerous mineral in the world because it causes very several diseases like lung cancer or mesothelial cancer. It is used to make tilings and roof tiles.

Later we have the erionite. It belongs to the group of the zeolites. It is very dangerous because with direct exposure it causes a very strange cancer named mesothelioma. You can find it in the place where the volcanic ash is modificated by groundwaters and weathering.

Thirdly, we have the fenaquite. This mineral contains beryllium, a very toxic mineral that causes lung cancer and other strange diseases like the berylliosis or the chemical pneumonitis. It is used to make alloyds for computer and telecommunications equipment. You can find it in Colorado (U.S.A), Zimbaue, Norway, Burma, Brazil and Madagascar.

Finally, we have the potassic feldspar. It contains small amounts of radioactive uranium that forms radon gas. It causes a several lung cancer. It is used to make glasses and ceramics and you can find it in a lot of places like the U.S.A, Brazil. China or Spain.

Sterling Hill Mine

Hi mineral lovers! In this post I'm going to show you the Sterling Hill mine.


The Sterling Hill Mine is in New Jersey, United States. It was the last working underground mine in New Jersey when it closed in 1986. This mine is known for its variety of minerals, especially the fluorescent varieties. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 1991. Mining began at the site in the 1630s, when it was mistakenly thought to be a copper deposit and the mine closed in 1986.



In Sterling Hill mines, there're 357 types of minerals are known to occur; these make up approximately 10% of the minerals known to science. Thirty-five of these minerals have not been found anywhere else. Ninety-one of the minerals fluoresce.
The mine also has a tour that spends about 30 minutes inside the Exhibit hall which contains a wide variety of mining memorabilia, mineralogical samples, fossils, and meteorites. It then leads into the mine for a 1,300 feet walk on level ground through the underground mine. The walk goes through a new 240 feet (73 m) section called the Rainbow tunnel which they blasted in 1990 using 49 blasts and at a cost of $2 a foot.

Three fluorescent minerals.

Hi mineral lovers! I'm David and today i'm going to show you three fluorescent minerals. I hope you enjoy it!


1.- Benitoite



This mineral has a rare blue color under a short wave of ultraviolet light. This mineral was first described in 1907 by George D. Louderback. Benitoite is a strange mineral who can be found in hydrothermally altered of serpentinite, in places like Japan, Arkansas and California.


2.- Hardystonite



Hardystonite is a strange mineral that can emit a fluorescence from dark purple or bright violet blue under a short wave of ultraviolet light. This mineral is normally found with Willemite and Calcite. It was first described by J.E. Wolff and it can be found in places like New Jersey.


3.- Willemite




Willemite is a mineral that under a short wave of ultraviolet light emit a fluorescence from dark green or light green. This mineral found in 1830 in Netherlands, also it can be found in Sterling Hill mine and New Jersey.

Four minerals that come from space

Hi mineral lovers, I'm Adrian and today I'm going to talk about five minerals that come from space, so...LET'S BEGIN!

Firstly we have the krotite, a new mineral discovered recently. A group of scientists were investigating an "egg-meteorite" and later discovered the first mineral formed in our Solar System. Also they say that maybe it is older than the Earth.

Secondly we have wassonite that was discovered with the krokite. It's very little and also the krokite is older that the wassonite, but scientists say that it can be more expensive that the wassonite because there are only a few.

In the third place we have the moldavite. It doesn't come exactly from space, but it is formed from the heat forming the bump. If you see moldevite, maybe you can see meteorite fragments on it.

Finally we have the platinum. It is called platinum because before the people confused the platinum with silver. In Spanish, silver is called "Plata" and platinum is called "Platino". A Spanish scientist put those names because silver and platinum are very similar. You can find this mineral actually on Earth, but two million years ago a big group of meteorites impacted in our planet and inside them there was platinum.

Five Radioactive Minerals

Hi mineral lovers ! I'm Adrian and today I'm going to show you five naturally radioactive minerals. So let's begin!

Firstly we have the uranocircite crystal. It's a very curious mineral because is luminescent in dark places. It's also a very strange gem because there are only three deposits: one im Toledo, another in Morvan (France) and finally in Bergen (Germany).

Secondly we have the europium crystal. It's a very radioactive element and it's used to pollute some types of plastics to make lasers. You can find europium in China and USA.

Thirdly we have the Autunite. It is not very radioactive, and you can find it in yellow or green (these are very rare). It's luminescent like the uranocircite and you can find this mineral in North America, Africa, Japan, India, Brazil, Australia and some european countries.

Next we have the metatorbernite. It is composed of cranium and phosphate. The metatorbernite doesn't have any use but it is pretty and fluorescent. The main exporters are the Democratic Republic of Congo and France.

Finnaly we have the pitchblende. This is a very important mineral because Marie Curie used the pitchblende to discover polonium, separating separating radium and uranium from them. You can find pitchblende in the Czech Republic, Canada and Zaire.

3 Minerals and gems stranger than the diamond.

Hi mineral lovers!!

I'm David and today I'm going to show you 3 minerals and gems stranger than the diamond.

So... LET'S BEGIN!!

In the first place we have the scarlet emerald, this mineral was found and described in 1904. This mineral can be found in New Mexico, but to obtain it, it's very expensive. This mineral is so weird, that from 8000 rubys you would only find one scarlet emerald.

In second place: the red diamond. The red diamond is the rarest form of the diamond. The greatest red diamond is the red Moussaieff and weighs only 1 gram.

In third place the Tanzanite. This mineral is 1000 times rarer than the diamond, this mineral exists only in the Kilimanjaro hills in very limited quantities. It exists in three colors: red, blue and purple 

Presentation

Hi mineral lovers, welcome to our blog "Underground Wonders".
First we are going to talk a little bit about minerals.

Minerals are normaly used to make jewellery. They're also purchased by collectors, and maybe they have  a spiritual meaning, such as good luck and good health. In this blog, we are going to talk about the different minerals and where to find them. There are a lot of types of minerals, some are very common, but other are extremely rare. If you love the Underground and you want to know its secrets, this is your blog.

For example, this is the bismuth crystal. It can last twenty trillions of years, so you must live the life of two universes to see how an atom of bismuth disappears. It can be the last element to extinct. Naturally, this is an Underground Wonder.