The Mineralogical Society
of New South Wales

The program will include a lecture to be given by Luis Martins on : – ‘A Mineral Collecting Trip to the Faroe Islands’. 

There will also be a mini-talk to be given by John Chapman and David Colchester on : – ‘Iridescence – Now And Then’. 

Members are invited to bring in any specimens showing iridescence to display to the Meeting. 

The Society Annual General Meeting and the Mayne-Walker Memorial Lecture to be given this year by Dr Ken McQueen on “The Paddy’s River Skarns, ACT: Their Origin and Mineralogy” 

The following details about the speaker and the subject of his lecture have been provided by John Chapman: 

‘We are honoured to have Dr McQueen present the Mayne-Walkers Memorial Lecture this year. Ken is Adjunct Professor (Geochemistry and Landscape Evolution), at the University of Canberra. He is also an old friend of the Society having given us a number of presentations over the years. The work on the skarn deposits of Paddys River was recently published in the Australian Journal of Mineralogy 

Several areas of skarn mineralization occur along the Paddy’s River valley in the ACT. The deposits are zoned, magnetite- and silicate-rich metasomatic replacement skarns containing complex assemblages of prograde and retrograde primary minerals and an association of base metal sulfides, scheelite, minor silver, gold and bismuth. The skarn mineralogies indicate medium-high temperature, oxidising conditions during their formation. Sulfides and scheelite were introduced during hydrous retrograde alteration. Weathering of the skarns has resulted in a great variety of secondary minerals and oxidation products. More than 90 different primary and secondary mineral species have been identified in the skarns.’