Natural Science Forum / Earth Science / Mineralogy / October 2006

I am a newbie armchair :) mineral collector.
This newsgroup doesn't seem to have a lot of activity.
Is there any other forums online? Or resources for the beginners? I haven't
found anything useful so far.

Somebody asked a question about uses for Muscovite (mica).  I once
bought some nearly optical quality sheets of mica about 4 cm X 10 cm
and .025 mm thick.  It is amazing stuff, flexible so it can be rolled
into tubes with diameter of 3 cm but essentially atomically smooth.

I have found an Army Corps of Engineers site with some very interesting
features in a couple of locations during my short time as a geocacher.
"Rockhounding", gold panning, etc., being strong interests of mine, I
keep my eyes out for things related to those interests during my ...