MINERALS BRNO
18.-19.11. 2023

This year, visitors of the Minerals of Brno (16 - 17 November 2019) can look forward to an accompanying exhibition, where selected examples of minerals from several important mineralogical localities in South Moravia will be presented. The exhibition is a follow-up to last year's exceptionally successful exhibition, which focused on the same geographical area and presented highly attractive examples from local pegmatite sites.

This year's continuation of this exhibition will follow and present Minerals Brno visitors with the mother types of other rock environments than last year's pegmatites. We will become acquainted with examples of igneous minerals (e.g. serpentinized peridotites, eclogites), minerals of hydrothermal deposits or interesting occurrences (polymetallic deposits and occurrences); uranium deposits with world-famous sulphide-selenide associations, many of which have been described in the mineralogical system; or quartz veins) and many other interesting locations with often unique and aesthetic examples.

Other types of mother rocks mainly include alpine veins mineral sites and similar associations, minerals of granulites, marbles, gneisses, erlans and amphibolites. Interesting minerals were also provided by a number of historically mined mineral deposits. In South Moravia, however, we can also find a number of interesting sites with products of serpentine weathering, where they are represented in beautiful examples, especially of opals. 

If we are more specific, we would like to invite visitors to a very comprehensive collection of minerals from the Štěpánov district (Borovec, Švařec - with beautiful wire-like and crystallized examples of pure copper, rich parts of dark cherry cuprite and beautiful green needles of malachite or dark blue azurite). A local rarity, silver minerals (pure silver and acanthite), will also be seen. This comprehensive exhibition presenting the Štěpánov district has never been exhibited, and so visitors will have a unique opportunity to learn about the mineralogy of this district, which was visited by many collectors.

The uranium district in the vicinity of Rožná, where mining of uranium ores has ended quite recently, is being represented in a high quality and coherent manner, and remediation and reclamation works are now underway. The local calcite, zeolite, a rare finding of precious witherite or rich accumulation of the above mentioned selenides, which provided the original descriptions of a number of new mineral species (e.g. bucovite, sabatierite, crustite, petrovicite and others) were of high quality. Many examples of these minerals will be exhibited, including some rare selenides.

Other localities that will be represented at the exhibition by quality examples include the quarry in Mirošov (alpine minerals, zeolites), the quarry in Horní Bory (cordierite, alpine minerals) Věžná (serpentine minerals), Heřmanov (well-known "Heřmanov balls"), Smrček ( opals, chalcedony), Drahonín (pectolite), Česká Mez and surroundings (amethysts), Sklené nad Oslavou (pyropes), Nedvědice (fluorskoryl and fluorite from gneiss and blue calcite, wollastonite etc. from marble), or Strážek (scapolite).

This brief list alone makes it clear that this year's accompanying exhibition to Minerals Brno will again be rich and well-representing for the selected region. We therefore cordially invite all fans of mineral beauty, laymen and experts alike, to visit Minerals Brno and the accompanying exhibition, which is once again a unique opportunity to get to know the full range of mineral resources of the South Moravian region in a small space.

It should also be stressed that the exhibited minerals come largely from private collections from a number of Moravian collectors and are therefore not commonly seen.

Author: Luděk Kráčmar