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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks

@nadwgab.bsky.social
22K followers 1K following 1.8K posts

Geologist | Mineralogy Curator @ the Natural History Museum, London | Creator of #365Minerals & #AreYouSiO2 | Views are my own | She/Her | 🌈💎 Posts about: #minerals #museums #geology #fossils #science Geology memes: #GeologistProblems 🐘 mas.to/@NadWGab

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Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Such sad news of the passing of Dr Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social who brought light, humour, horses in archaeology and simple humanity to us. She faced her short illness with dignity and courage #FuckCancer #SpeirGorm
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I saw The Odyssey today and it was absolutely brilliant 💯 I'm so glad I managed to get tickets! (and I'm so glad I brought my earplugs with me) #TheOdyssey
Cardboard cutout for The Odyssey at the IMAX cinema at the Ronson Theatre, Science Museum. It shows Odysseus in armour, sword drawn, in front of an army of Laestrygonians (giants in silver armour).IMAX screen showing a still from The Odyssey. It shows Odysseus in armour, sword drawn, in front of an army of Laestrygonians (giants in silver armour).
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 2 Match 1: It’s a visually-striking start to Round 2 as deep blue pigment #Azurite is against lead- and zinc-rich #Sphalerite. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo with deep blue translucent crystals jut upwards in a cluster like modern skyscrapers on the left. They have lightly striated faces, and are long with pointed tips. On the right is a metallic grey triangular crystal with deeply striated faces. The face itself is geometrically broken with jagged edges, evoking a cyberpunk-futuristic vibe.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 16 It's a pair of industrially-vital minerals for the final match of the first round as tin ore #Cassiterite is up against elemental carbon #Graphite. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of cassiterite crystals, silvery to shiny black, in shapes similar to faceted gemstones and a flat, hexagonal graphite crystal jutting up, dark grey with a greasy shine.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 15 It's blue vs red for vibrant cyan-blue #Chrysocolla vs rich chocolatey red-brown #Xocolatlite. Are you with the hydrous copper silicate or the tellurate? VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of rounded towers of aqua-blue crystals resembling a puffer spike ball and radial splats of reddish-brown crystals resembling lichen growth.
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Anya 🌹"Chinny" | CZGoldEdition @czgoldedition.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Approximate Gender: She not so much as woman, but as in She-Wolf.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Purple halite 😍 The colouring is probably due to irradiation and crystal defects. This one is from Intrepid Potash East Mine in New Mexico, USA. From the NHM London's collection #MinCup26 #minerals
A dark purple translucent halite cube with an irregular surface. One side is about 6cm long.

From the Natural History Museum London's collection.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 13 It's a match between a mineral you want to be cautious breathing near and one you eat every day as arsenic-rich #arsenopyrite is against table salt #halite. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo between angular arsenopyrite, metallic and abundant in parallelogram faces and halite in its classic perfect cube shape, but tinted deep blue.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 11/09/2026
Fault Taunting xkcd.com/3296/
4-panel comic. (1) [Giant fishing rod-like cat toy positioned above four tectonic plates. Two helicopters that appear tiny due to scale fly above. People next to device are so tiny they cannot be seen.] PERSON 1: The key to exposing new geologic layers is understanding the three forces driving plate movement: slab pull, ridge push, and taunting. (2) PERSON 2: Taunting? What do– PERSON 1: *Initiate thrust fault pattern!* [The dangly end of the toy wiggles.] (3) “Rumble” sound effect from tectonic plates. (4) “Lunge!” sound effect from tectonic plates. [Plates split at a diagonal angling toward toy.]
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 12 Grey hides complexity for these metal-rich minerals as trickster #Pyrrhotite battles geometrically-unusual #Cylindrite in this monochromatic matchup. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of thin hexagonal slabs of metallic pyrrhotite, plus clear quartz intermixed and long, thin cylindrite crystals forming a dark fan shape.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Quartz is my number one but calcite makes me happy too 🥰 #MinCup26
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 11 It's a pair of minerals that pull off near-magical tricks with their properties as ubiquitous #Calcite is up against rarity #Julienite. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
mineralcup.org
Vote in Round 1 Match 11 — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
Vote in Calcite vs Julienite Credit: Harold Moritz and David Hospital
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Gypsum is essentially what you get in hyperarid regions when water containing calcium and sulfur dry out, or when the same sort of water moves through cracks in rock. In Mexico, this has resulted in the growth of immense gypsum crystals in Naica Cave: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of...
Photo from Naica Cave, taken from the linked Wikipedia page, showing spires of white gypsum jutting at different angles from the floor of the cave to the roof. Each crystal is 10 to 12 meters tall (note silhouette of a caver at the bottom left of the image).
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 10: It’s a pair of soft minerals that form near the surface as heavyweight #pyromorphite is up against evaporate #gypsum. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of a scattering of highlighter-yellow log-shaped Pyromorphite crystals and a dense cluster of translucent white flat, rounded gypsum crystals that resemble a flower bud
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 9: It’s a pair of tiny minerals with unusual chemistry as hafnium-containing #Hafnon battles with strontium/chromium-containing #Putnisite. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of jagged dark brown to orange opaque crystal grains of hafnon embedded in an unidentified white matrix and tiny grape-jello purple cubical crystals with a rough surface. The crystals are poking out of a massive rough rock with areas of fuzzy green and broad purple, all with a grainy coating of white as though it were rubbed with flour
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Stichite (purple) is commonly associated with green serpentinite, so specimens like this one below remind me of the Incredible Hulk 😂 #MinCup26
Cut and polished slice with purple circular patches of stichtite in dark green serpentine. From Dundas, Tasmania, Australia. This information is repeated on its display label.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Duke Stephens @oliveoilcorp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
🐺DARLIN' AND HER OTHER NAMES🐺 🩸Today's Update: darlincomic.com?pg=32#showCo... 🐺Read from the beginning: darlincomic.com?pg=1#showComic ❤️Mirror Sites: darlinandherothernames.thecomicseries.com | darlin.webcomic.studio
New Update 
DARLINCOMIC.COM
Comic panel illustration of a fuzzy black silhouette with glowing yellow eyes.
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
British fascists are attacking and doxxing the incredible volunteers of the RNLI. Donate now.
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 8: It’s a pair of soft and lovely minerals as Stichtite and Talc compete for your votes. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo with a rough chunk of vividly purple stichtite with occasional dark speckles and a pearly white talc with cool green undertones and a flaky surface.
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Fossillocator @fossillocator.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Andalusite makes for an interesting gemstone, it has flashes of different colors from different angle thanks to pleochroism #mincup26 And yes, these are from my batch and I do sell them for $10 each plus shipping
A bunch of faceted andalusite gems
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Greg @suq.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We have an ermine carving by alfred zimmerman from a single piece of quartz and it blows my mind the level of detail and how he used the iron staining on one side as a backdrop
Frosted quartz ermine carving
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 7 It's a color-changing match of informative minerals! Time-tracker #Monazite-(Ce)'s yellow in sunlight darkens to orange in incandescent light while index mineral #Andalusite is pleochroic VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo with yellow andalusite, backlit to show its color and its growth patterns, which have four-fold symmetry with branching dark streaks in each direction and a glassy amber-yellow crystal point in a craggy setting of smaller, lighter yellow crystals.
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Kepler 🍁ΘΔ @andromedaphoenix.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Just look at these three green quartz examples from my own collection!The microcrystalline stuff especially creates some of the prettiest rocks in the world. Man, the camera does not do the green amethyst justice though. It's so much more vibrant in person.
a chunk of microcrystalline quartz with a light turquoise colourpale green amethyst with a white band and a hollow line cutting across the middle more microcrystalline quartz, this one deep green and heavily fractured, capped with a dark grey rock on top
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Ugh. Yeah, I thought it was suspicious that quartz started off only a little bit behind and then suddenly asagiite was constantly leading by at least 70 votes #TeamQuartz #MinCup26
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Everything in this cut and polished slab is quartz. It consists of brecciated reddish-brown jasper and banded agate which have been cemented together with amethyst. From Kunnersdorf, Saxony, Germany. Vote for quartz! #TeamQuartz #MinCup26
A cut and polished slab showing angular pieces of reddish-brown jasper and banded agate which have been cemented with colourless quartz and amethyst.

Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London collection.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Vote for quartz, the only mineral cool enough to feature in the Lego Minerals set three times! 1) Tiny colourless acicular crystals associated with red rhodochrosite 2) An amethyst geode 3) Orange "tangerine quartz" #TeamQuartz #MinCup26
Close up of two Lego figures: dark red rhodochrosite cubes on a black matrix with colourless acicular quartz crystals, and a dark purple amethyst geode.A Lego model of tangerine quartz. It's a deep orange colour with white tips.
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Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Quartz has such an important role in our world and has for centuries! Vote Quartz! #MinCup26 The gap was closer before but somehow (despite no visible social media campaign and little recognition or any application whatsoever) asagiite has pulled ahead again. Mystified.
mineralcup.org
Vote in Round 1 Match 6 — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
Vote in Quartz vs Asagiite Credit: John Sobolewski and Chris Emproto
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Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Vote for Quartz in #MinCup26 for silicon!
mineralcup.org
Vote in Round 1 Match 6 — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
Vote in Quartz vs Asagiite Credit: John Sobolewski and Chris Emproto
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Are people voting for asagiite because it's green? Quartz can do that too! Here's quartz coloured green by chlorite inclusions #TeamQuartz #MinCup26
One tapered quartz crystal with several smaller tapered crystals at its base. It's dark green in colour.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Gawen Jenkin @gawenjenkin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Having found lots growing up in Cornwall, smoky quartz is my favourite variety of quartz. Quartz is the gateway drug for so many youngsters into the incredible world of minerals. #MinCup26
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
How can you not vote for quartz. Look how pretty it looks when combined with other minerals! These are smoky quartz prisms emerging from a bed of white feldspar, with a sprinkling of spessartine garnet! #TeamQuartz #MinCup26
Black, translucent crystals of smoky quartz rising out of a white feldspar groundmass sprinkled with tiny orange spessartine crystals, a type of garnet. From Tongbei, China.

Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London's collections.
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Kepler 🍁ΘΔ @andromedaphoenix.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
quartz is only losing because people think common = "boring' quartz is wonderful quartz has so many beautiful varieties quartz is how we have the white sand beaches everyone loves quartz is a giant piece of how i'm able to send this message right now we love quartz
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
#Quartz. Quartz remembers the sunlight for centuries, for millennia, for a hundred thousand years. Quartz remembers the warm of the sun as it tumbled down rivers, blew across deserts. Quartz remembers as it lies buried in the dark beneath dunes, beneath forgotten riverbeds. #MinCup26
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I wake up and quartz is behind? How? Look at what you can do with it! Patrick Dreher spent 500+ hours carving this octopus from a single quartz crystal. The chimps were carved from a single piece of agate by Gerd and Patrick Dreher #TeamQuartz #MinCup26 #SciArt
A very intricate carving of an octopus made from a colourless piece of quartz. It looks like it's perching on a boulder.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.A double terminate crystal of slightly smoky quartz next to the octopus. It's from Grisons, Switzerland.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.Three chimpanzees carved from a single piece of agate. Their fur is black and their hands are brown. Two chimps at the front are looking at each other while the third one has its back turned towards them.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.An example of the agate the three chimps were carved from. It's shaped like a V and is black on the outside and brown on the inside. An outline of the chimps is drawn on top. The agate is from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 5 It's a fiery match of vibrant red #Cuprite and just as saturated orange #Orpiment battle for your votes! VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of deep red, chunky cuprite crystals, clear and vibrant and shiny like pomegranate seeds and orpiment forming many round puffs of intensely orange spikes radiating out like sea urchin spines.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 4: Cogwheels of #Bournonite are up against colourful #Vesuvianite in a battle of unexpected chemical compositions. VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of metallic grey solid wheels on one side and pointy-ended green columnar crystal on the other.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Sphalerite has a similar hardness to a copper penny and it cleaves easily, so it's not really useful for jewellery. But it does look beautiful when it's cut into a gemstone! #MinCup26 #minerals
A cut sphalerite gemstone. It's a curved triangular shape with faceted surfaces and a deep reddish-orange colour. It's 282.24 carats. From Santander, Spain.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 3 Both zinc ore #Sphalerite and calcium plagioclase feldspar #Anorthite will split cleanly if you hit them with a hammer, but only one can claim a larger split of your votes! VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
A photo split between toothy translucent yellow crystals chewing on a grey rock and a blocky milky-yellow translucent crystal where every corner and edge is cut by a small oblique face.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Today's #MinCup26 match is basically this meme
Black and pink house meme. Photo shows two neighbouring houses near a sandy beach in Santa Monica, California, USA. The house on the left is black, and the one on the right is bright pink and purple.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 2: Flowery pink #Erythrite is against shiny silver #Skutterudite in this match of cobalt minerals. Will you pick the weathering product or the mineral it comes from? VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
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Fernando Salvaterra @salvaterra.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
new #minerals handmade sketchbook. azurite VS smithsonite #mincup26 #sketchbook #sciart
sketchbook page photo with a double page spread of the ink drawings of two minerals: azurite and smithsonite. black and white. a pen rest in the middle of the pages. both are going to be blue once painted, with different hues.
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Pretty Ugly Things @prettyuglythings.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Y'all doin' smithsonite dirty with that photo! The rainbow display case at the Tucson show is something to bebold.
A mineral case filled with saturated pastel tones of smithsonite, including shades of pink, green, blue, and orange. The minerals have excellent luster.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm voting for azurite, but I will admit that smithsonite is very pretty! Here's a display at the NHM in London showing off its diverse forms. It's always a hard one for me to identify when I'm looking at specimens! #MinCup26 #minerals
A display case full of various smithsonite minerals (ZnCO3, rhombohedral).  A lot of them are botryoidal and have a lumpy appearance. The colours range from bright turquoise, yellow, white, brown and green. One specimen is a cut and polished slice with turquoise coloured bands, another is a cut and polished circular piece with yellow concentric banding which makes it look like an eye.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 1: It's carbonate-vs-carbonate with copper-rich #Azurite against zinc-rich #Smithsonite. Which has your vote? VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Split photo of bright blue azurite and peach-colored smithsonite crystals.

The azurite forms clusters of round nodules with a matte, almost velvety-looking texture.

The smithsonite crystals are mostly discs with parallelogram faces. There are some black and gold-colores minerals mixed in.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
If quartz has one million fans, then I am one of them. If quartz has ten fans, then I am one of them. If quartz has only one fan, then that fan is me. If quartz has no fans, then I am no longer alive. If the world is against quartz, then I am against the world. #MinCup26 #MineralMonday #TeamQuartz
A cluster of long milky white quartz prisms dotted with small golden crystals of pyrite. From Cornwall, UK.

On display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Gonna start a metal band where we use the sounds of screaming moist rocks #MinCore
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Gonna start a metal band where we use the sounds of screaming moist rocks #MinCore
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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Oooh, a bracket! www.mineralcup.org/2026/bracket
A sports-style elimination bracket of 32 minerals labeled "Mineral Cup 2026". Text below reads, "Daily voting takes place on www.MineralCup.org in September. Campaign on your favourite social media using #MinCup26."

The starting matches are, in chronological order in pairs from top to bottom alternating from left to right each match:
Azurite vs Smithsonite
Erythrite vs Skutterudite
Sphalerite vs Anorthite
Bournonite vs Vesuvianite
Cuprite vs Orpiment
Quartz vs Asagiite
Monazite-(Ce) vs Andalusite
Stichtite vs Talc
Hafnon vs Putnisite
Pyromorphite vs Gypsum
Calcite vs Julienite
Pyrrhotite vs Cylindrite
Arsenopyrite vs Halite
Riebeckite vs Gadolinite-(Y)
Chrysocolla vs Xocolatlite
Cassiterite vs Graphite
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Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Can you spot the difference? 👀 Although these photos were taken over 100 years apart, our Minerals Gallery is much the same - right down to the original oak display cabinets from 1881. Do you like the feel of the original Victorian gallery, or do you prefer something more modern?
Two half photos of a museum gallery with stone pillars and wooden display cases lined up to create a full picture. The left is a modern colour photo labelled 2025, the right is an old black and white photograph labelled 1923.
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Quartz is back. Long live SiO2 🥹 #MinCup26
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