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Welcome to the New England Mineral Conference 2015 to be held May 8th-10th. It's hard to believe this will be our third year. We will be holding the event at the Sunday River Conference Center again this year. This is a great venue that just helps enhance the whole weekend. We are all getting a little stir-crazy from the winter conditions that seem to never end, but the sun is getting higher and it will make us appreciate being able to go out into the field again. There are some good things about this winter as it has forced me to work on sorting out material which wouldn't happen if the weather was warmer. Hopefully some of you have been doing the same. For any who went to Tucson this year you got a nice reprieve on the weather. Not to rub it in too much for those who didn't go, but the temperatures were around 80 many days with abundant sunshine. This year's conference is going to be exciting and we have some nice surprises in store. There are several different ways to keep informed of updates. I will be putting out a few more emails as we move forward giving you updates to what is happening. You can also check out the website http://www.nemineralconference.org/ and get information and download registrations forms. You can also "like" us on Facebook at New England Mineral Association.
Presenters. Although we have not finished all the details, most of the hard work is now done. Frank Perham will again grace our stage with his presence and storytelling ability. Frank will be talking about whatever comes to mind about many of his mining experiences. You never know what he will talk about. With the research end of the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum coming together, Skip Simmons will talk about the exciting research that they will be doing. You will not want to miss John Cornish, a west coast miner, who has also been doing some mining for the beautiful delicate crocoite in Tasmania as he brings his story "Upside Down and In The Future, Mining Tasmania's Adelaide Mine!" Fred Wilda will be doing a talk on the Lane Quarry in Connecticut. Sean Sweeney talks about some of the wonderful gemstones he has cut from some of the major finds to come out of Maine. Carl Francis and Jim Nizamoff team up again to talk about Tamminen quarry apatites. Additionally, for the youth, John Cornish will be giving talks on education day for the students. I am sure any who want can sit in and maybe learn a thing or two. Again this year we will be having an education day for students. This includes the opportunity for students to come and go through the education stations that we will be set up around the venue. This is designed for the kids to have some fun and learn at the same time. Some of the stations will be a sluice where kids will get to sluice a bag of material and a chance to hopefully find some colorful local minerals, and an area to learn how to identify different minerals. There will also be displays of some of the wonderful minerals and gems of Maine and the rest of the world. Poster Contest for any New England student in Grades 3-12. This is a great project for students to be able to do research. If you are a teacher (public, private or home schooling) or you know anyone that might be interested, please pass this info along. Help us introduce the youth to our world, to learn and have some fun at the same time. For the students there are great prizes for the best posters and an opportunity to display and talk about their poster at the conference. Additional information is available on the website. New England Micromounters will be having a room at the conference. This would be a great time to learn about this aspect of mineral collecting. Anyone have some micro's and are not sure what they are? This would be an excellent opportunity to possibly get them identified. There are some wicked smart people in this group but don't let them intimidate...they are there to share their passion with you. Dealers. Anyone wanting to find out more about being a dealer at the conference can get in contact with Chad Cramer through the dealer page on the website. Cordially, Jeff Morrison President, New England Mineral Association 207-232-4973 jmorris7@maine.rr.com http://www.nemineralconference.org/ |
