Posted on by Thomas Farley

A Day at the Kokoweef Cavern and Mine Complex

—

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Kokoweef from yesterday. 1. Free Rock&Gem article online dated October 31, 2018 outlining how to work the material. The writer describes it as cave onyx but I think most writers call it calcite popcorn, a little known but common formation in caves. The author says his material fluoresces green, mine only shows a mild cream color. Not remarkable. 2.The haul from yesterday including a large display rock I got last year. Just wanted something from Kokoweef. A person yesterday took two bowling ball sized garden rocks from the dump, covered with calcite popcorn. 3. Closeup of the interesting lines that might make some pieces worth cabbing. 4. Broken stalagmite/stalagmite piece, the largest I recovered that day. These were quite coveted and rare in the dumps but I didn’t ask why people were interested in a broken stalagmite. I gave away one of mine to someone who hadn’t found one. As to what to do with it, as well as the rest of the material, I am awaiting inspiration. 5. Some of the pieces were white like this, most cream. Interior of all of them is probably the same, mostly white. 6. Large piece maybe worth slabbing, save for the numerous voids and cavities. 7. Typical. Different than Number 5. They’re like snowflakes. 8. Cross section of a stalactite/ stalagmite. 9. The big display specimen I pulled out yesterday. Sits quietly on a shelf. As to their worth, perhaps a few dollars each for the smaller ones as mineral specimens. Don’t know. There is a guy on eBay right now who has polished slabs for sale of Kokoweef material. Type in Kokoweef to search. He shows what could possibly be done with this calcite popcorn. southwestrockhounding.com#geology#caves#caverns#calcite#rocks#minerals #geologyrocks #geologistonboard#rockandgemmagazine #rockngemmagazine #roadtrip#explore#sanbernardinocounty

A post shared by Tom Farley (@tgfarley) on


—

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

This is geyserite from Kokoweef. I thought it was travertine but the operator assured me it wasn’t. I looked it up on Mindat and it is a true rock, not a made up name. Occurs around geysers and hot springs, the operator is now recovering a goodly amount of it. Beautiful stuff but too crumbly to cab, at least this piece. This was not on the dumps, instead I had to pay a whopping five dollars. 👍He gave me another piece for free. More pictures tomorrow as I have lost the light and there is nothing worse than the way rocks, gems, and minerals look under indoor lighting. #geology#rocks#geologyrocks#geologistonboard#minerals#caves#caverns#sanbernardinocounty

A post shared by Tom Farley (@tgfarley) on


—


—


—


—


—

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *