Bastnäs

DESCRIPTION

VISITS

1997-10-10
I was very lucky when Britta and Allan Bäckman proposed that we should all go on a trip somewhere in the vincinity of Västerås to collect minerals. Since I was ignorant of which localities there was and which was worth a visit I let them decide. They equipped me with a description of Bastnäs and a few days later we met in the morning. Eager to find minerals as lanthanite and cerite I got into their car and we were on our way.
At the waist rock dump they showed me how the different minerals looked an off I went. It took a little time, but finally I started to recognise cerite and it was everywhere to find. .... to be continued....
1998-05-17
This time I was here with a more geographically mixed company. We were a group of rockstarved people from the annual meeting of the Swedish Amateur Geologists federation that wanted to collect some minerals after the meeting.
With the guidance of Emil Gregori and Mikael Jansson we found a number of interesting minerals. First we visited the locality for erythrite and everyone got nice samples of erythrite and also some smolianinovite was found. The visit just got better when we met a man that's been working with converting Bastnäs to a tourist attraction. He told us a lot of interesting facts about the Bastnäs mines. As a bonus he even opened up the mine and guided us in to the He also showed us some mineralogical interesting sites which resulted in molybdite to be added in my collection.
After some hours in Bastnäs, people started to departure and we wawed them goodbye.
Before going back to Västerås, Allan and me passed by the Pellegruvan to look at the cave in. We also found some time to a short trip by the old copper plant, a historical site where an old copper factory have been partially restaurated.

Mineral assemblage

Allanite, Bastnäsite, Cerite, Hematite, Lanthanite, Carrollite, Magnetite, Molybdenite, Molybdite, Quartz, Azurite, Malachite, Erythrite, Smolianinovite, Talc, Cordierite.

Azurite
Azurite occurs as thin coatings of up to a couple of millimeters.....
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Malachite
Malachite as a thin layer of approximately 1mm thickness.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Bastnasite
Bastnasite from Bastnäs. A cerium-fluor-carbonate as dark yellow masses in the right part of the rock.
As a gift from Luciana Pederzani, Västerås. 1997-12-09
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Bastnasite
Bastnasite with light green fibrous aktinolite, black allanite and dark red cerite. This is one part of three coming from the best sample of bastnasite I've ever found.
Collected during the 1998 Bergslagen trip, 1998-06-23.
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Unknown
Unknown, If small balls, probably chrysokoll ?
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Unknown
Unknown, If small balls, probably chrysokoll ?
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Magnetite
A couple of nice magnetite crystals in a matrix of chlorite schist. The crystals are not perfectly proportional, some are elongated along the direction of the schist.
The big crystal is 12 mm across.
Collected 1998-06-23
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Hematite
Hematite in a schist like appearence. It consists of small flakes with a very shiny surface.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Molybdite
Molybdite as a thin yellow borderzone around some molybdenite.
Collected 1998-05-17
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Molybdite
Molybdite as a thin yellow crust on a piece of molybdenite ore.
My third trip here awarded me with a number of good molybdite specimens. Here is one.
Collected 1998-06-23
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Cerite
.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Lanthanite
.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Lanthanite
.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Talc
.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Allanite-Ce
Allanite vein in cerite. It's hard to see, but the allanite is formed as plates, about 1 mm thick.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Carrollite
There's a carrollite crystal at the top of the picture. It's hard to see since its so shiny.
The carrollite have been taken for linneite during many years, but roentgen diffraction measurements made by Bengt Högrelius in the past years have always revealed carrollite.
Collected 1997-10-10
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Bismuthinite
Bismuthinite in allanite. The top of this rock is full of bismuthinite but it's hard to see, since it's single crystal and the cleavage plane is shiny as a mirror.
Collected 1998-06-23
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Erythrite
Erythrite as earthy crusts.
Together with the erythrite is some yellow earthy mineral. Rumors says that it should be smolianinovite, but I don't know if this is it.
Collected 1998-05-17
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Cordierite
Yellow cordierite. The look of it is close to bastnasite, so it's simple to think that you've found a giant piece of bastnasite.
To find out, just check the hardness. (Cordierite = 7-7.5, Bastnasite = 4-4.5)
Collected 1998-06-23
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

If you have some questions, suggestions or comments you are welcome to write me a line or two.

Locality index. Main index.

axelsson@acc.umu.se

	Azurite Azurite occurs as thin coatings of up to a couple of millimeters..... Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Malachite Malachite as a thin layer of approximately 1mm thickness. Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Bastnasite Bastnasite from Bastnäs. A cerium-fluor-carbonate as dark yellow masses in the right part of the rock. As a gift from Luciana Pederzani, Västerås. 1997-12-09 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Bastnasite Bastnasite with light green fibrous aktinolite, black allanite and dark red cerite. This is one part of three coming from the best sample of bastnasite I've ever found. Collected during the 1998 Bergslagen trip, 1998-06-23. (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Unknown Unknown, If small balls, probably chrysokoll ? Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Unknown Unknown, If small balls, probably chrysokoll ? Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Magnetite A couple of nice magnetite crystals in a matrix of chlorite schist. The crystals are not perfectly proportional, some are elongated along the direction of the schist. The big crystal is 12 mm across. Collected 1998-06-23 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Hematite Hematite in a schist like appearence. It consists of small flakes with a very shiny surface. Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Molybdite Molybdite as a thin yellow borderzone around some molybdenite. Collected 1998-05-17 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Molybdite Molybdite as a thin yellow crust on a piece of molybdenite ore. My third trip here awarded me with a number of good molybdite specimens. Here is one. Collected 1998-06-23 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Cerite . Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Lanthanite . Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Lanthanite . Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Talc . Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Allanite-Ce Allanite vein in cerite. It's hard to see, but the allanite is formed as plates, about 1 mm thick. Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Carrollite There's a carrollite crystal at the top of the picture. It's hard to see since its so shiny. The carrollite have been taken for linneite during many years, but roentgen diffraction measurements made by Bengt Högrelius in the past years have always revealed carrollite. Collected 1997-10-10 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Bismuthinite Bismuthinite in allanite. The top of this rock is full of bismuthinite but it's hard to see, since it's single crystal and the cleavage plane is shiny as a mirror. Collected 1998-06-23 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Erythrite Erythrite as earthy crusts. Together with the erythrite is some yellow earthy mineral. Rumors says that it should be smolianinovite, but I don't know if this is it. Collected 1998-05-17 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Cordierite Yellow cordierite. The look of it is close to bastnasite, so it's simple to think that you've found a giant piece of bastnasite. To find out, just check the hardness. (Cordierite = 7-7.5, Bastnasite = 4-4.5) Collected 1998-06-23 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)