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Coon Creek, AR, Day 2, 3M Quarry
You are here: MineralCollecting.org >> Posted Articles >> Article 3

3M Quarry mines the northern portion of Granite Mountain on the south side of Little Rock, AR. 3M Quarry was actually the first day of collecting for the Coon Creek group. After breakfast the group drove to the quarry. We signed the waiver and were escorted into the pit. The group was given permission to collect anywhere west (right) of the main road into pit. A few people went to a freshly exposed roof pendant on the second level, three cars went to the lowest level. We stopped near the southwest wall of the lowest level where my dad had spotted a large zone of pegmatite in a syenite boulder. While he surveyed around to the west wall, I crossed to the north wall and worked my way back to where we'd parked. On the way back to the van I spotted a huge bubble of pegmatite in a 15 by 25' chunk of oversized boulder. A large cavity was in the direct center of the zone of pegmatite. I could see large aegirine and natrolite crystals in the cavity. We decided to DRILL!

We put three holes in the top of the boulder and three holes just below the zone of pegmatite. After tuning up a few plugs and feathers, a 3 by 4' face of the boulder about a foot thick finally split off. In the pegmatite, sprays of 1 1/2 inch aegirine crystals a millimeter thick, criss crossing spikes of inch long natrolite up to 5 millimeters thick and half inch analcimes were common in cavities up to three inches wide. Although this find is among the largest specimens of these minerals from 3M, we found very few odd, rare, or unusual minerals in the piece. We split off three more chunks of pegmatite and decided to move back to the boulder near the van.

There were several small cavities exposed on the surface of the first boulder. We drilled about eight holes and split off three large pieces containing cavities up to an inch wide. Aegirine, allanite, analcime, augite, lavenite, kuptletskite, natrolite, and titanite were all present in the cavities. I'm confident that many other minerals will turn up as the material is processed.

Near the end of the day, I walked out into a large boulder field near the north wall. A few other members of the group had found real nice micro material in some smaller pieces of pegmatite. The tailings revealed the usual suite of minerals. I found another large area of pegmatite in a syenite boulder about twenty feet north of where the group had been. I hammered out a few pieces containing brithiolite and decided to call it a day. I haven't looked at any of this material since it was collected. I will post further findings as I make them. ~~~Adam.

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