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3M Quarry, AR
You are here: MineralCollecting.org >> Posted Articles >> Article 8

We visited 3M Quarry in Little Rock, AR, on Thursday, 02/18/2000. The west pit was just as we'd left it from our last visit during the Coon Creek Trip back in October. 3M was in the process of mining the ramp that used to be the entrance into the quarry. They have created a new ramp down the northern most wall sloping east into the pit. My dad and I were interested in recovering more of the micro material from the boulder field on the lowest level. The pegmatite had been broken into small pieces by previous collectors. I found that it was overwhelmingly easy to collect a whole bag full in hardly any time at all. The pegmatite has yielded between 10 to 15 different mineral species. Kuptletskite, Mosandrite, Lavenite, Gaidonnayite, Titanite, Eggletonite, Pyrophanite, Aegirine, and Apophyllite are just a few.

While I was gathering my tools from the boulder field, my dad spotted a zone of coarse pegmatite in the wall. The zone was a massive bubble of white pegmatite about 8 ft tall and 20 or more feet long. I climbed about 15 feet up a pile of rock and boulders which was partially obscuring the east end of the zone of pegmatite. Three quarter inch analcime and 1/4 apophyllites were just staring me in the face, as if to say "what took you so long...?". After nearly passing out, and after I'd regained enough mental stability that I'd lost due to the shock, I turned and signaled for some bags and buckets because I'd decided it was time to really do some collecting. On the surface nearest the top contact of the pegmatite and syenite were the analcimes and apophyllites, and near the bottom of the zone were cavities with the rare micros like we'd collected from the boulder field. We immediately hypothesized that this is where the materiel in the boulder field had come from. I chiseled off several pieces of large conglomerated analcimes before I realized that I was hammering on the outer edge of a large cavity. Both the analcimes and apophyllites on the surface were milky white and not very lustrous. As the cavity widened these minerals became clearer and much more lustrous. I chiseled out what I had assumed was the rear of the cavity and opened into a cavernous vug that was just smaller than my head. I once again was forced to take a break while I recovered from shock. Clear brown and white analcimes that were better than a inch and gem quality apophyllites to a quarter inch were everywhere! Complete floater clusters with no point of contact were up to 2.5 inches across. Several of the specimens had inch or longer natrolites up to a quarter of an inch thick perched between or on diamond clear apophyllites that were on the analcimes. While I worked on the cavity, my dad hammered off several chunks of micro material. One piece revealed a cavity that was about 3/4 of an inch wide and absolutely orange with eggletonite crystals. I collected two full flats of cabinet specimen analcimes and apophyllites and my dad collected a full bucket or more from the micro zone. Truly impressive material, to say the very least!

We stopped on our way out of the quarry where the new ramp had cut the syenite close to the contact with the Stanley Shale. Several small gas cavities were scattered about throughout the rubble. My dad sat down where some large chunks of pegmatite with extremely green feldspars were peeping through the rubble. Several large cavities with mineralization that neither one of us could identify were in this material. We collected a bucket full and then I heaved the remaining chunk into the back of the van. I'll post an update when it's determined exactly what this material contains.

Although it rained throughout the day, this was one of my best visits to 3M Quarry. ~~~Adam

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