Mineral Mondays #11: Hanksite

Hanksite

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Hanksite is such a cool mineral. It forms large, fist to football sized crystals. Many people mistake it for quartz in photos, but it's very different in real life, let me explain.

Hanksite is a very rare mineral only found in a few places on earth, Argentina, China, Sweden and the US. It is a sulfate mineral with a twist, it also has carbonate making it one of only a few minerals that have both carbonate & sulfate ions. A sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid. Don't worry, it won't hurt you.

I was introduced to hanksite by chance. One day my daughter came home from school and said "Dad, we have to go to this mineral show out in the desert!" The gem and mineral show she was referring to is called Gem-O-Rama and it is held every year during the second weekend of October in Trona, California near Death Valley. Her science teacher, Mr. Schinhoefen, told her about it and goes to the show every year. He encourages his students to attend as well and as fate would have it, we left early the next morning for what would be a life changing experience!

It was the event that started both my wife and I collecting gems and minerals. We had no idea what we were getting into at the time. We just thought it would be a nice trip to the desert for the kids to play in the dirt with some of their classmates, get them out into nature. Yet it would be mom and dad who would have the most fun! When we dug our first hanksite crystals we were hooked!

Hanksite grows in Searles lake. There are two types of hanksite, the common hanksite as shown in the first photo of this post and barrel hanksite shown in the photo above. The only difference is the crystal termination and the environment they grow in. The common hanksite grows in brine, ultra salty water, while barrel hanksite grows in a black, brine mud. I personally like the barrel hanksite better because of the clusters it grows in. It's also more fun trying to find them because you have to get dirty! I mean, real dirty. That mud is thick and messy and the only way to find the best crystals is to jump right in and use your hands to probe for the best crystals. That's me roughing it in the blue hat.

The one problem with barrel hanksite is it's usually cover in mud so you have to wash it with brine quickly, then store it in a cool, dry place away from the sun and water. Sunlight will bleach it and make it crack out. If it is exposed to water it will etch and dissolve. After you have washed it you should dry it and apply mineral oil to keep it from drying. If it is exposed to water it will etch and dissolve. The show provides troughs of brine to do the cleaning, but we also buy several liters of brine from the gem and mineral show and clean the crystals all night. It's exhausting work, but so worth it especially if we get a good crystal or cluster that can sell for upwards of $100.

Common hanksite is a much easier mineral to deal with. The Searles Valley Minerals Company, which owns the rights to the lake, drills holes in the lake bed about 40 feet down, sends explosive charges down to loosen the crystals, then pumps them up to the surface for everyone to collect. It comes out clean and with several other collectable minerals like sulphohalite, thenardite and halite.

Some Hanksite Facts:

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• Hanksite is a sulfate mineral. 
• Shape - hexagonal 
• Composition - Na22K(SO4)9(CO3)2Cl
• Hardness - 3 - 3.5 (soft medium, diamond is 10) 
• Refractive index (fire) - 1.481 - 1.55 (diamond is 2.417 - 2.419)
• Colors - black, brown, yellow, clear.
• Localities - mentioned, but best locality Trona, California 

Barrel hanksite and common hanksite are collected on the same day at two different field trips onto the Searles' lake bed. These are the only times all year that hanksite can be collected, so you see a lot of people in the photos. Probably about 500-1000 people attend, many from all over the world.

What makes Searles lake special you might be thinking. It's unique because it is surrounded by mountains. There is no outlet, so the water and minerals drain into the lake and accumulate. This has been happening for tens of thousands of years. With so much saturation of salt in the lake these amazing crystals can grow both in size and quantity. It's also why Searles Lake is a major supplier of minerals to the rest of the world. It's minerals are used in many modern technologies including computers, LCDs and special coatings.

Here is a short video I made from 2016's show.

That's it for this week. If you would like to read more about the lake check out the Searles Valley Minerals' website: http://www.svminerals.com/default.aspx
For more information on Gem-O-Rama you can visit their website: http://www1.iwvisp.com/tronagemclub/GEM-O-RAMA.htm

Next Mineral Mondays #12: More Searles Lake Minerals Sulphohalite, Borax & Thenardite

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