This article, authored by Dr. Duncan Miller, appeared in the South African Lapidary Magazine in July 2010. At one time there was an exchange bulletin arrangement between ESCONI and the Federation of Southern African Gem and Mineralogical Societies (FOSAGAMS). Now the connection is tenuous, consisting of a small number of common members, pictured below. See if you can identify them.
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The Mineralogical Society of Southern Africa was founded in 1962 and is 48 years old this year. In 2005 the name was changed informally to the Cape Town Gem and Mineral Club, for ease of identification and advertising. Since its inception in 1966, we have been a member club of the Federation of South African Gem and Mineral Societies (FOSAGAMS). For the past few years the membership has hovered around 100, some of these memberships being whole families.
For many years we have enjoyed the luxury of having our own club house, situated in Goede Hoop Street, Bothasig. This boasts a large meeting room, with displays of minerals and legally registered fossils; a kitchen; an office for committee meetings; a general lapidary workshop; a specialised faceting workshop; a jewellery workshop; a small but well stocked library; a rock store; a covered stoep; and ladies' and men's loos of course. There is ample off-street parking in our fenced and grassy grounds.
Our regular monthly meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month, except in January. The main meeting, starting at 14h00 usually is preceded by an hour's swap session, with the library open for loans and returns of books and magazines. The meetings themselves can be very varied, with talks from guest speakers, slide shows of field trips, practical craft demonstrations, etc., and usually end with an auction of a selection of mineral specimens for club funds. Cold drinks, tea and cake are available for purchase from the kitchen. After the meeting braai fires are lit, and all members are welcome to stay for a sociable bring-your-own braai.
The mineral displays are also very varied. Some cases contain a miscellany of minerals from all over the world, but mainly Southern Africa, while others are devoted to specific localities that have been visited by the club in the past. The fossil display is an historic collection of Cretaceous fossils from Algoa Bay, donated to the club by Henry Schramm, one of our long-standing senior members. This fossil collection has been registered formally with the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA). In South Africa, collection of fossils without a permit from SAHRA is illegal, and we discourage our members from breaking the law.
The committee room is the location of the mysterious monthly meetings of the Executive Committee (EXCO), whose edited deliberations (leaving out the plans for the full-scale annexing of Namibia) appear in the monthly club newsletter Mineral Chatter. At eight information-packed pages this is more of a monthly magazine than a newsletter, and is the main vehicle for communicating forthcoming activities within the club. We established a functional club website in 2010 (www.ctminsoc.co.za).
The general lapidary workshop is well equipped with a range of diamond saws, from a trim saw to a huge 24 inch slab saw, four double grinders for cabochon making, various sanding machines, three flat lapping machines, and a sphere making machine. Regular introductory classes are run for those wanting to learn how to use these machines. The faceting workshop is equipped with a trim saw and three Lee faceting machines, with accessories. Faceting classes are run when there is sufficient demand and those who have completed a course are entitled to use the faceting machines. A very modest daily fee is charged for the use of these workshops, simply to replace consumables and pay for replacement parts when necessary.
The jewellery workshop is equipped with an electric roller, gas lines, and torches at six work stations. It is used only for teaching silver smithing and usually several courses, for beginners and more advanced jewellers, are run each year. Intermittently we also run gemmology courses, both for gem cutters and for jewellers.
The library houses an extensive collection of books on lapidary, jewellery making, gemmology, geology, and palaeontology. The club subscribes to The Mineralogical Record. The magazines and the books are available for loan for a period of one month at a time. The library also houses the geological and gemmological book collection of the late Fr Tony Garman, as well as a geological book collection donated by former club member Tom Molyneux. These items are for reference in the library only.
The rock store is a treasure trove of material donated or collected over the years. This is mostly lapidary material, as the mineral specimens are depleted regularly for the monthly auctions. Club members can purchase lapidary material on intermittent sales aimed at reducing the holdings of the store. As everyone knows, rocks multiply in the dark, so this appears to be an unattainable goal.
The covered stoep comes into its own on the club's Open Day, which is held on the first Saturday of each month (except January, when all rocks are still hung-over from the festive season and don't want to see the light). On Open Day about twenty trader members set out their diverse wares, from hand-made jewellery to cut stones and fine mineral specimens. The club is open to the public on these days, and a light lunch is on sale.
The real highlights of club activities are the field trips. These are arranged regularly, some of them just half day trips to local geological outcrops and others major excursions lasting up to two weeks. There are not many mineral collecting localities near to Cape Town, but the club organises an approximately annual trip to an active quarry near Vanrhynsdorp to collect quartz and adularia feldspar crystals. This is a closed locality, and by arrangement with the mine may only be visited through the Cape Town Gem and Mineral Club. The various pegmatites of Namaqualand are also a favoured target for club field trips. Several of our members have a particular interest in the various rocks making up the Cape Granite Suite (CGS). Our having visited many of the outcrops over the past few years, there are now plans to start a formal collection of polished examples of representative rocks of the CGS. This will necessitate a fresh round of Sunday outings, to outcrops mostly conveniently situated along the scenic west coast.
The Cape Town Gem and Mineral Club is vibrant, and we look forward to a long and sustainable future.
