Date:
5/24/2025
4:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: 32 Evans St., Franklin, NJ 07416
Lang Shaft / Hamburg Mine /High St. (Phil Crabb property)
AFTERNOON INTO NIGHT DIG !!!!!
High St., Franklin, NJ. Private residence containing unique outcropping ofFranklin Marble and Dolomitic rock with CLOSEST-TO-SURFACE Zinc orebody contact, in Sussex County. Fluorescents incl. varieties of Willemite and Calcite, Sphalerite, Fluorapatite, Hydrozincite, even Hardystonite, and others. “Daylight” associated minerals incl. Franklinite, Quartz, Pyrite, Pyrrhotite, Rhodonite, Fluorite (massive), Epidote (massive), and others. New exciting finds as well, to be mentioned on trip.
Meet-up spot: Franklin Mineral Museum parking area (32 Evans St. Franklin, NJ 07416). Park on grass strip just to right of the end of the main Museum lot. Phil Crabb will meet us there at 3:45 pm and guide us to the parking on High St., which will be either on the property outskirt or street – side.
Trip Notes: Please carpool to High St. from FMM if possible.
MANDATORY: You MUST BRING YOUR OWN LW / SW / MW LAMP(s).
See details in the attached flyer. As with all trips - SIGN UP WITH GROUNDHOG DAVE (email / text / message)
And as with all trips - you must be a current FM-NJ member in good standing Dues - wise.
Thanks folks, have a good one and see you soon!
Fee: $20/person
Tools: Shovel, Pick, Sledgehammer, Chisels, Bucket
Post Event Write-Up:
Clubs in attend: NoJMS, FM-NJ, FOMS
Hosts: "Franklin Phil" Phil Crabb
Attendees: "Franklin Phil" Phil Crabb, Groundhog Dave, Dave "Lermanator" Lerman, Luca Prendini, Jesse Sunderland and Janice Ketchuck; Madeline Jewett, Rich "Drake" Drake, James Nalepa, Rich and Meg Blatman; Yu Lin, Mark and Mark McArthur; David Kaminski, Eric Stroud
Once again, the NJ Clubs had an excellent and engaging trip to the aptly named "Mighty North Orebody" up at High St. in Franklin. Phil graciously gave everyone a historical overview of the area and property and emphasized the emergence of the orebody nearest to the surface, at the site. Folks quickly took to scouring the top of the wall and ventured downhill and examined the numerous boulders and smaller rocks embedded in the wall. Some folks opted to continue digging through the dumped material at the front of the site, from the construction project nearer Sterling Hill, from a few years ago.
Jesse Sunderland, Dave "Lermanator" and a few folks, found notable ore containing boulders near the top of the wall, that they slowly broke down into smaller collectible pieces. Nice examples of green Willemite and reddish to orange Calcite, were collected by all.
More notable finds:
- Hardystonite on oer piece - Janice Ketchuck and Jesse Sunderland
- Phosphorescent Willemite - Jesse Sunderland
- Yellow - greenish LW (likely) Carbonate material on marble - Dave Kaminski and Eric Stroud
- Slag fragments from nearby smelting - Groundhog Dave and Janice Ketchuck
- Remnants of previous norbergite / Diopside boulder - Yu Lin and Rich Blatman
- POTENTIAL Hardystonite - containing boulder for future examination - Jesse Sunderland, Dave "Lermanator", Phil Crabb, possibly other(s)
- Small Garnet xls in Dolomite rock - Luca Prendini
- Sulfide (Pyrite or Arsenopyrite) in Dolomitic rock - Luca Prendini
- multi-wave Fluorescing Calcite (reddish, blueish) - Dave Kaminski
- nice Sphalerites in ore pieces - Yu Lin
- VERY nice Quartz xls in Dolomite vugs (up to 1 cs) - James Nalepa
- "Franklin Concrete" piece with Hardystonite fragment(s) - Dave Kaminski
- interesting rich brick-red Hematite patches and bands on various pieces - Mark McArthur
"Franklin" Phil revealed that this coming week, he will be bringing a Komatsu / equipment to overturn select sections of his property. We must keep our ears open for any near future finds following this !!
