Note: "High Rollars, Black Queen
and Brick Works" Thundereggs are from the
same claim formally filed to BLM as "Black Queen Claim".
Situated along the
"Sugar Bowl" strike which the thunderegg-enriched
pertile/tuff flow occurred in lens (pockets) and the Black
Queen pocket is the latest "Sugar Bowl" pocket found.
Discovered by his mining partners, the claim was filed by
Paul "GeodeKid" Calburn under the official name of "Black
Queen". Several mining attempts were made but it turned out
that like the original Sugar Bowl mine, the pocket is not
big enough for commercial mining efforts. It had been
reclaimed despite few further exploratory diggings.
The unusual thing about the thundereggs
themselves is that the color of their shells varies in color
and hardness. Toward the southern edge, the thundereggs have
red to orange shells while those on the northern edge are
brownish similar to those of Sugar Bowl thundereggs. Further
to the north, the thunderegg shells are poorly silicified
("rotten shells"). To make the thundereggs even more
unusual, high percentage of the thundereggs contain white
bladed calcite inclusions in geometric patterns and
psilomelane (manganese) inclusions. Scolecite, a zeolite had
been noted in a few thundereggs and mentioned in older
literatures. Because of such a high percentage of
inclusions, banded agates are somewhat scarce in that
location. Some large thundereggs had been found, but the
best ones are about soft-ball sized or smaller. They
can be distinguished from LaveCapl Thundereggs by the color
of their host matrix. Black Queen eggs tend to have darker
perlite/tuff while Lava Cap Thundereggs were extracted from
white to pale green perlite/tuff.
Site
Status: As of Jan 2022: It's under a "Thunder" claim
now, please don't trespass/dig without permission!
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PICTURES