Veins of a blue - and - yellow ring mineral feed through the Derbyshire hillside in Britain ’s Peak District , a rare mineral we know today as Blue John . It ’s think to only be see intwo locationsacross the planet , so while it ’s only semi - valued , its scarcity make it a worthful discovery .
Blue John is a miscellany of fluorite , a mineral composed primarily of Ca fluoride ( CaF2 ) . Fluorite belongs to the group ofmineralsknown as fluorite . find along pipe veins in Treak Cliff Cavern and the Blue John Cavern in Derbyshire , UK , Blue John is often spotted alongside deposit of yellow fluor , heavy spar , pyrites , calcite , galena , and quartz glass .
It display some multifariousness within its colouration , being made up of dreary blue-blooded , sick blue sky , and yellow band . The precise source of its midnight - blue chromaticity was debated for a long meter , with possible suggestions including radioactive cloth . However , field , laboratory , and experimental evidencehave suggested it ’s the result of bituminous inclusion body , a type of constitutional material made up of the ancient remains of organic matter like plant and bug .
Veins of Blue John in Blue John Cavern, Derbyshire, UK.Image credit: Mfloryan,Public Domain, viaWikimedia
Much of the mineral was lost during the First World War when fluorspar became a in demand material as a flux in eruption furnaces . Blue John was subsequently mined for this role , strip the region of large vein of the treasured stone .
As a beautiful mineral , it ’s covet for jewelry and ornaments , with good example online including chalice and cut up panther head teacher . According toBlue John Stone , some orbit “ off the beaten caterpillar track ” are still mine for pocket-size - scale jewelry , but large pieces are no longer made as most of the substantial veins have already been tapped .
That said , we are still finding new nervure of Blue John in late times . Back in 2013 , a venous blood vessel that had long been considered “ drop off ” was rediscovered . It was lose following the dying of miner John Royce back in 1945 , who slip by before have a chance to show the landowner at the time the “ ins and out ” of Treak Cliff Cavern .
Blue John jewelry on sale at Treak Cliff Cavern, Derbyshire, England, made from stone mined thereImage credit: Andy Mabbett,CC BY-SA 3.0, viaWikimedia
For 68 year , his precursor fail to find the venous blood vessel – until January 2013 , when a prospecting mission off the Witch ’s Cave let on something interesting concealment beneath some clay .
“ There was approximately a beat - length plate of crystals that we worked to clear , ” state John Turner , who was present during the lookup , toBlue John Stone . “ That first day we dug aside as much as 2 t of remains , and by 3 atomic number 61 decided to allow the dripping water lavation more away overnight . ”
“ The next morning we direct well lighting into the area along with the big rock candy drills , but before any oil production take up post we had to dig more remains . It was around 1 pm that day we first were able to drill the limestone surrounding the Blue John , by the end of the mean solar day ’s boring we had uncover more of the vein we ’d ever guessed be . Then I told Gary about the carpet and wooden batons , he tell me of the lost mineral vein of John Royce , and that he had a finical way of get over his study . By the end of the day we had exceptionally beautiful piece of stone we had not seen at the Treak Cliff for years . ”
Again , in 2015 , an whole new vein was discovered by mine director Gary Ridley , who was testing out a new approach to mining using a stonechainsaw . “ I could n’t consider my eyes when within a few minutes I had uncovered a satisfying bank deposit of Blue John unlike any other vein I had ever see before,”he said .
BRB , move to fetch our mining chainsaw .
