Project Overview

Project Overview
Mineralogy of Wales

This website results from a partnership project between the Department of Geology, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (NMW) and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), and would not have been initiated and sustained without the support of Drs S. Campbell and R. Mathews (CCW). The mineral data form an extended and enhanced second edition of A Mineralogy of Wales published by Dr R.E. Bevins, National Museum of Wales (1994), and includes over 40 new confirmed mineral entries. Many of these new data are derived from the CCW-NMW MINESCAN partnership project (1996–2000).

We hope this site will encourage wider appreciation of Wales mineral heritage. Mineral collecting can be an emotive subject and we aim to promote responsible collecting. Three simple steps to support this are:

  • Ensure that access to a site is approved by the site’s legal owner and any additional permission is gained to protected sites (e.g. Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI))
  • Think about the area you are collecting from; will it destroy a natural protected outcrop or will collecting preserve material that would otherwise be destroyed by quarrying?
  • Consider the scientific importance of the specimens collected – record what, where, and how specimens were collected and share new or special information with the scientific community through a museum or university department.

The site content was researched and written by Dr Jana Horák and Tom Cotterell (Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales) and John Mason (freelance consultant), with website construction undertaken by Neil Davies (National Library of Wales) and David Thorpe (Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales).

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr David Green in producing many new photographic images for this project and extend our thanks to Steve Rust, Mick Cooper, Dr David Jenkins, Dr Rob Ixer and Dr Wes Gibbons for generously allowing us to use their images.