Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

HARD ROCK LIFE

Dozens flock their rocks to Kamloops Exploration Group’s ‘Ask a Geologist’

Nov 18, 2019 | 5:13 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops’ best rocks were on display at the Museum on Saturday afternoon, as the Kamloops Exploration Group held its semi-regular ‘Ask a Geologist’ event. The event connects enthusiastic amateurs with experts who help identify the unusual minerals that people find throughout the region.

“Some of them are quite spectacular, and some of them are very interesting,” Geologist Robin Whiteaker explains. “Some of them are a real challenge to try and work out.”

Amateur rockhound Trevor Braun says he picks up different samples when he’s out and about looking for gold.

“I’ve come across quite a few rocks and wasn’t sure what they are,” Braun says. “I brought a selection here to geologists to look at and try to find out what they are.”

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While Roderick Malcolm Dixon came across one of his favourite samples right in his backyard, Whiteaker identified it as a piece of fossilized tree, which was turning to coal.

“It was part of a dump; someone had brought rock and gravel in,” Dixon says. “This piece was still the size of a baseball.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today

Along with the piece of tree, Dixon says he’s found a variety of fossils in his travels throughout the Thompson River valleys. Whiteaker says he’s always impressed by the range he sees at the KEG events.

“We get some pieces that could probably belong in a museum. Pieces that their grandfather had left them or their uncle had brought from some foreign country,” Whiteaker says. “Really quite interesting things that they don’t realize how special they are.”

If you missed Saturday’s event, don’t fret. There are two ‘Ask a Geologist’ events coming up this spring: one at Meet a Machine in April, and the other at Mining Day in early May.