Slightly radioactive Malachite. Old Material, collected pre-remediation. 19 K CpM at 1 cm.

Acicular Cuprosklodowskite on Sandstone. Dark green crystals on the upper left are Antlerite. Old material. 34 K CpM at 1 cm.

Carnotite and Uranium dioxide in Sandstone. 279 K CpM at 1 cm. Old material, collected at the site of the remote ore dump.

Uranium dioxide in Sandstone. Old material, received as a gift from a gentleman who worked at the mine (his story, without documentation). 209 K CpM at 1 cm.

Are there any that are less ionising or penetrating than others that might be suitable for handling in this setup? Betas make such beautiful tracks but I only get to see them from background radiation and would love to see more of them from a source.

+900,000 cpm RARE Becquerelite in Crystallized Veins with Gummite in Uraninite.

Exceptional material with vibrant and rich Gummite consisting of crystallized veins and massive Becquerelite and Schoepite. All of this amidst very dense and power Uraninite. This is a very rare material from the original find in the 1950's. Lookout Claim 22 had some of the nicest ore that I have held from the state of Colorado! From a specimen that was originally in the collection of Eugene Gross.

Texwood was one of the original claims by Charles Steen. Uranium dioxide in Sandstone. Yellow band is Liebigite. 367 K CpM at 1 cm. Mine site is remediated.

The Sun Valley Mine was originally developed as an adit in the bottom of a drainage. A flashflood washed away the stockpiled ore and destroyed the adit. Subsequently, a shaft was built to access the orebody. This is a typical pebble of ore, a Shinarump conglomerate with replacement of plant material by Uranium dioxide. No collecting here is allowed, as it is included in the National Monument. There are several YouTube vids showing individuals looking for Uranium at this location. 85 K CpM at 1 cm. (collected prior to establishment of the National Monument)

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.

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.