The Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter is pleased to announce that our symposium will be returning in 2026 from June 11th – 14th, in Berthoud Hall at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. The symposium theme will be “Colorado 150: Celebrating 150 Years of Colorado Statehood”
This event will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood with a weekend of field trips, workshops, and presentations pertaining to Colorado mineralogy. All who are interested in minerals and mineralogy are welcome to attend.
REGISTER HERE
SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE:
Thursday June 11
- Mineral Collecting Field Trips
• See below for additional information. - Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
• Please note that, due to the ongoing renovation of the Coors Mineral Hall at DMNS, the rock/mineral/meteorite collections will not be part of the behind-the-scenes tour this year. Instead, this year, the tour will focus on the world-class DMNS fossil collections and preparation spaces. The DMNS collections include spectacular fossils from across Colorado, as well as across the world.
• Two tours will be offered, one at 1:30pm on Thursday June 11, and the other at 1:30pm on Friday June 12. Each will last approximately 1 hour. Each tour is limited to ten people.
Friday June 12
- Mineral Specimen Preparation Demo at Collectors Edge (10am and 2pm)
• There will be two sessions of this event, one at 10am and one at 2pm. Each is expected to last approximately 1.5 hours. Participants will be shown a range of mineral specimen preparation and presentation techniques, from specimen trimming and air-scribing, to air abrasion (“sand blasting”) and basic chemical treatments. - Opening Reception at the Mines Museum of Earth Science: 5pm – 8pm
• Food and drink will be provided. This event will include a silent auction and a live auction around 6:30pm.
Saturday June 13
Presentations will be in Berthoud Hall room 241. Presentations will be approximately 50 minutes, including time for questions, and there will be a ~20 minute break between each presentation. Schedule and speaker order are tentative and subject to change.
8:30am – Tea, Coffee, and Morning Snacks
8:50am – Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00am – Bryan Lees: “The Detroit City Mine Rhodochrosite Mining Project.”
9:50am – Morning Break 1
10:10am – Jasper Bertisen: “Mineral Collecting Adventures in the San Juan Mountains”
11:00am – Morning Break 2
11:20am – Ed Raines: “The Colorado Mineral Belt”
12:10pm – 1:30pm ~ TACO BUFFET LUNCH ~ (New this year: registration includes a lunch buffet.)
1:30pm – Howard Coopersmith: “Geology and Mineralogy of Colorado Diamonds”
2:20pm – Afternoon Break 1
2:40pm – Chris Emproto: “Secondary Minerals of the Colorado Plateau Uranium-Vanadium Mines”
3:30pm – Afternoon Break 2
3:50pm – Dan Kile: “55 Years of Colorado Mineral Collecting Antics”
The first day of symposium presentations is expected to conclude by 5:30pm.
Sunday June 14
8:30am – Tea, Coffee, and Morning Snacks
9:00am – Mark Jacobson: “The Pegmatites of Colorado: A Survey of Localities”
9:50am – Morning Break 1
10:10am – Jason Roys & Ian Schimpfle: “Blue Fever: Adventures in Prospecting For Aquamarine and Other Gems on Mount Antero”
11:00am – Morning Break 2
11:20pm – Benjamin Murphy & Jonathan Caine: “Tectonomagmatic Controls on the Formation and Localization of Mineral Occurrences in Colorado and Reassessment of the Origin of the ‘Colorado Mineral Belt'”
12:10pm – Concluding Remarks
The second day of symposium presentations is expected to conclude by 12:30pm. After lunch, the Rocky Mountain Micromineral Association will hold a micromineral summit in partnership with the Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter Symposium.
Colorado Micromineral Summit: 1:30 – 4pm, GRL201 (room adjacent to the Mines Museum)
===
Field Trips
Field trip registration will open the evening of May 6. Each field trip will be limited to 20 people. These field trips will be held on Thursday, June 11.
You must be a member of Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter to attend the field-collecting field trips (for insurance purposes).
Field Trip Option #1
Trip Location: Field trip to carlsbad-twinned feldspar localities of Lake County, Colorado. Weather permitting, participants will visit and collect at localities on Prospect Mountain, east of Leadville, and/or on the south side of Chalk Mountain, north of Leadville. At Prospect Mountain, the twinned feldspars reach several inches in length.
Logistical Details: Tentatively meeting in Leadville at 10am; expect trip to proceed through the afternoon. Exact meeting time and location will be confirmed prior to the event. Drive up to Prospect Mountain will require a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle, and participants will be expected to provide their own. Carpooling in available 4×4 vehicles, at least out from Leadville, may be an option for those without such a vehicle but is not guaranteed.
Field Trip Leader: Mark Jacobson
Field Trip Option #2
Trip Location: Field trip to pegmatites in the St. Peters Dome area, near Colorado Springs. The trip will focus on zircon- and astrophyllite-bearing pegmatites, including the Eureka Tunnel and nearby pegmatites that host large, specimen-quality zircons.
Logistical Details: Tentatively meeting at the St Peters Dome trailhead, along Gold Camp Road, at 10am. Exact meeting time and location will be confirmed prior to the event. An all-wheel-drive vehicle with moderate clearance is recommended for the drive to the trailhead, although a carefully driven sedan can make the drive. Field trip will involve a good amount of hiking to pegmatites below St Peters Dome; participants should expect a hike of several miles with elevation gain and loss of several hundred feet.
Field Trip Leader: Philip Persson
===
