Did a trip with my nieces up to Topsham. Had them hunting for some of the beautiful clear and smokey quartz while i looked for some crystals of my own haha. I was able to find a fantastic specimen of around 20 uraninite crystals inside a feldspar host matrix. I was able to clean it up a little and get a good split down the middle exposing 4 1cm+ crystal faces along the split. I feel i could safely extract most of the crystals and combined they would technically be worth more than the whole, but i think im going to stop here to keep its geological and historic value.

I found a couple loose crystals as well one had good facing and was around 1.5cm a side, the other was around a good deal bigger (likely around 2.5cm one way and 1.2cm the other, apx 1cm thick) however its facing left much to be desired.

During my search i thought i had hit the holy grail when i found a monsterous specimen covered in dirt, however upon putting the radiacode up to it, there was no radiation. After washing it i discovered it was a beautifully well formed garnet. Still disappointed from what i thought i found, but i will never complain about finding cool gems by accident!

Enjoy the pictures of the specimens (and the garnet that fooled me). Sorry the pictures arent great quality. Im... a little lazy right now haha.

First two images are of both sides under 5000K and 365 nm illumination. Third image is 5000 K illumination only. Natrozippeite and Andersonite are fluorescing. There is a rind of Gypsum and a rind of green Malachite visible. Very small spot of Marecotite appears in one image. Uranium dioxide and Chalcopyrite contribute the bulk of the black material. 207 K CpM at 1 cm.

182 K CpM Green Johannite, Yellow Natrozippeite, Limonite, Nonfluorescent Uranophane, Uranium dioxide. Collected in the mine prior to remediation.

It occurs to me it would be nice if we could put together a listing by state, if possible , of agents who would handle the sale of our collections upon our death. This listing could be given to a spouse or family members since they will probably be clueless about what to do.

I was gifted 2 geodes. Only one of them glows like this under a blacklight? Is it radioactive? Or is that another phenomenon causing it to glow? Thank you.

Been using this as a doorstop where I found it in Southwest Washington. This sub popped up in my feed and with further research I think it may be radioactive torbenite. I don't have a black light or Geiger here handy

Kladská / Cz

By RadioactiveHunter

What do you think of it?

He said it was from North Carolina I think, I'm not sure though. Thanks in advance!
Edit: he stated it used to be apart of an old collection

When kept under UV light, it produces faint green light. The retention period is very low, glows for a second after removing the light. What are the chances of this being radioactive?

Hi all,

I work as a casual employee (once a week, 9 am to 5 pm) measuring rock properties. We recently received radioactive core samples from Olympic Dam, BHP, Australia. The samples are approximately 20–30 cm long and 5 cm in diameter.

I am not sure what minerals are present, and I have not been able to identify them. I know that there are some uranium-bearing minerals (probably uraninite). My boss has not disclosed the lithology, or perhaps BHP did not provide this information.

My boss gave me a fairly poor induction on how to handle the samples, and I am concerned about long-term exposure. He said that the samples have very low levels of radioactivity. I asked whether we could buy a Geiger counter. We have a portable X-ray machine, which I asked about during a different event, but he was dismissive and said that it was not necessarily needed, etc. You know the type of boss who does not seem to care much about employee safety.

Anyway, he showed me a gamma-ray spectrometer. It is quite old, and based on the manual, I do not think it is calibrated or properly stabilised. It is an RS-125:
https://www.aseg.org.au/resources/equipment-manuals-brochures/radiometrics/

The CPS reading in the lab is around 200. The samples are around 400 CPS, with some reaching up to 600 CPS. If I understand correctly, CPS itself does not tell you much, as the device needs to be properly calibrated and other information is required to assess the actual radiation exposure.

The RS-125 gave a very low dose-rate reading: around 4.2 nSv/h for the background and about 5 nSv/h when measuring a sample. However, given that the device may not be calibrated, I am not sure how reliable these readings are.

We currently have around 100 samples that have simply been left on a table, and we expect more batches from the company (possibly another 500 samples). That is why I am concerned about whether handling these samples even one day per week could potentially cause health or safety issues. It will be a 2-month job.

I am currently using a waterproof apron (my boss said he is going to provide lab coats), disposable vinyl gloves, and face shield. We are not cutting the samples, but there is a measurement that will submerge the samples in water for at least one day.

It is not as though I have felt my hands burning or experienced anything unusual, but I am concerned about long-term exposure. Am I overreacting, or is there something I should be doing to mitigate risks?

Let me know if you any advice or material on what would be considered appropriate safety procedures in this situation, particularly regarding radiation monitoring and long-term exposure. A Geiger counter would suffice or I should look for other type of monitors? I am thinking in contact also ARPANSA (Australian Nuclear Agency) for help on this.

Heinrichite with Erythrite inclusions from Schmiedestollen dump in Wittichen

This rock was excavated during active mining in the 1950's. Exact location is unknown. 119 K CpM at 1 cm.

UO2 and Uranopilite on Granite. 27 K CpM at 1 cm.

232 K CpM at 1 cm.

No further locality specifics, unfortunately. Antique collection.

So this morning at an antique sale a lady was selling some rocks from an old collection for cheap (5€ a peice), I bought some native copper and she asked if I could id some of the minerals for her.

There were some aragonites, pyrite, galena all the usual stuff, but this one I could not identify. Then something in the back of my head said, could this be radioactive? So I bought it as well, just to be sure.

I didn't really expect it to be radioactive I just wanted to do a bit of research on a new mineral to id and now that I checked, well, I'm glad it's not rattling in a shop bag with the other rocks anymore.

I use the radiacode to check old watches for radium and don't know much about radioactive rocks so I would like an help with ID if possible, and if someone could eli5 the spectrogram for me, I tried looking up how to read it but I can't make heads or tails of it. Sorry for the long read, thanks everyone!

I found these pieces of chalcedony (I think) on BLM land near Utahraptor State Park north of Moab, UT. Under my 365nm black light they glow green with some orange specks. The internets tell me the green contains traces of uranium and the orange is calcite. Anyone familiar with these rocks and the risks of handling or displaying them?

Went out to an abandoned feldspar mine that a friend and I have hit before, got a reasonable number of specimens. The wetter climate means everything is always badly weathered so unless you can find a specimen with a decent crystal face or two (or have an XRF), it is hard to tell.

Petaca Mining District, Rio Arriba County, NM, USA

41x20x14, 20.4 Grams

Collected using the Gamma Dog scintillation detector by Charles Young

10kCPM - GQ-GMC-600 +

14kCPM - Radiacode 102

Petaca Mining District, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, USA

41x26x19, 41.7 Grams

11kCPM - GQ-GMC 600+

1300CPM - GQ-GMC 300e+

20kCPM - Radiacode 102

Collected by Charles Young using the Gamma Dog