I grew up in South Africa in the mining town of Phalaborwa and in Cerro de Pasco, Peru.  It was in Peru at a young age that I developed an interest in minerals and geology and have been collecting minerals ever since. With a collection of over 3000 specimens, my area of interest is in the minerals of the Kalahari Manganese Field, the Phalaborwa Carbonatite,Nambia and in general southern African minerals including minerals of the late Bushveld Igneous events such as the Vergenoeg Fluorite deposit. I have a special interest in the minerals of Peru, especially its sulphides. I have had many opportunities to collect minerals at Vergenoeg mine and several other South African localities including the Pering Mine and Nchwaning II Mine.  I enjoy the tactile immediacy of collecting minerals and consider it to be the most enjoyable of hobbies. I am also very interested in geology with my main areas of interest in the rocks of Archean age, the origin of the Earth and the enigmatic processes leading to the origin of Life on Earth.  Other interests include meteorite impacts and their relation to extinction events (the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event in particular) and the geology of Mars and the Moon.            In 2001 I became a hobby mineral dealer and started www.onlineminerals.com. My web site offers mineral specimens mainly from southern Africa and minerals from some international localities. Over the last year the focus of the web site has changed to include more specimens from Namibia and the Kalahari Manganese Field. I also buy and evaluate mineral collections, so please contact me if you are interested in selling or simply having your collection valued for which I will charge a nominal rate.  I hope that you enjoy my web site and stop to visit it from time to time.  If you feel I could improve the site in any way please let me know. If there are any particular minerals you wish me to search for I will do my best in sourcing them for you. I have an extensive network of dealers, miners and collectors.  You can e-mail me at mineralman@telkomsa.net or info@onlineminerals.com          I am chairman of the Witwatersrand Gem and Mineral Club and have been the editor of the South African Lapidary magazine since 2001.  I hold a National Diploma in Analytical Chemistry, and am registered as a Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, a member of the South African Chemical Institute and an affiliate member of the Geological Society of South Africa. For a more complete biography and my mineral label archive visit the Mineralogical Record at this link: http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1309         I am a consulting analytical chemist and founder of Allan Fraser & Associates, a consultancy services company specialising in education and training of laboratory analysts, providing laboratory audits, method validation and assistance with the development of analytical methods. For more on this visit http://www.allanfraserandassociates.co.za/              Below is a collection of photographs of various mineral collecting expeditions, mineral shows, fellow mineral collecting enthusiasts and an assortment of intriguing geology. I have added a few of my favourite specimens from my own collection (sorry, they are not for sale), from various sites.       I have a sceptical disposition and believe in questioning the validity of claims by following basic scientific methods of observation, independent testing, rational deduction, and verification by means of abundant evidence. I fight the misuse of science and praise the real wonder of science. Visit my blog at http://www.iridiumminer.blogspot.com/  A blog site for anyone interested in Science and rational thinking.   Allan 2010   (Disclaimer: The locality information on this web site is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in onlineminerals.com without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. Please also note that we do not encourage the use of minerals for healing purposes. Many mineral species are potentially toxic. We will not be held responsible for any injury or death due to the handling or ingestion of toxic or radioactive minerals purchased from this web site. We do not encourage the use of minerals and crystals for 'healing'or 'health enhancement'as these "practices" debauch and make a mockery of the scientific enterprise. Furthermore, 'crystal healing' belongs in the same category as pink unicorns and the tooth fairy!)      July 2007, Pilanesberg National Park, Lenong View.   K/T Boundary layer exposed in the Bottaccione Valley near Gubbio, Umbria, Italy. October 2009.     My mineral collection in Peru, circa 1972   Paul Balayer of Kalahari Mineral Ventures and Allan at Paul's mineral workshop in May 2010.     My Peruvian collection as it is today (Feb 2010).   John Brodley and my father Bob Fraser in the Cerro de Pasco Open pit mine. 1973     Galena with Quartz, Pasto Bueno, Peru.  Specimen size: 6 x 4 cm.Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   Realgar, Orpiment, Quartz replacing Barite, Palomo Mine, Peru. Specimen size: 12 x 8 cm.  Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   Barite on Dolomite. Cerro Warihuyn, Miraflores, Peru. The Barite is 7 x 4 cm in size.  Ex- Geoff Krasnov collection.  Picture and specimen: A. Fraser      Collecting trip to Vergenoeg Mine, October 2004. Allan, Bruce Cairncross and Wolf Windisch (kneeling).  Picture: Henk Smit   Wolf Windisch, micromounter extraordinaire, at Vergenoeg Mine, January 2006. Picture by Henk Smit.   Henk Smit at Vergenoeg Mine chipping away at the Siderite and Pyrite site.  February 2006. Picture by A. Fraser   Jens Gutzmer and Allan at Vergenoeg Mine, May 2004   Jens Gutzmer and Bruce Cairncross at Vergenoeg Mine, May 2004. Picture: A.Fraser    With a little help from technology ......   ..... opening cavities at Vergenoeg Mine. May 2007    Vergenoeg Mine. Me collecting at an freshly opened cavity containing goethite.  January 2008. Picture by Bruce Cairncross.    Vergenoeg Mine. Collecting at an freshly opened cavity containing goethite.  January 2008. Picture by Bruce Cairncross.   Vergenoeg Mine. Examining a freshly exposed cavity lined with iridescent goethite. January 2008. Picture Bruce Cairncross   A specimen I collected at Vergenoeg Mine - iridescent goethite with transluscent fluorite. Specimen size: 6 x 4 cm.  Picture by Bruce Cairncross    Iridescent Goethite,  Vergenoeg Mine, Specimen and picture Bruce Cairncross.   Vergenoeg mine - a 30 cm vug lined with stalictitic transluscent fluorite which is on iridescent goethite.  Note the roof of the vug which has crystals of red iridescent goethite.  2007. Picture: A. Fraser   Picking through the Azurite and Malachite site at Vergenoeg Mine, Wolf, Henk and Bruce.  The Azurite vein runs near vertically through the orebody at this point. May 2007.   Allan underground at N'chwaning II Mine, April 2007. Olmiite and Bultfonteinite find.   N'chwaning II mine owned by Assmang.  Picture: A. Fraser   November 2004, Black Rock mine, left to Right: Bruce Cairncross, Paul  Balayer, Allan Fraser   Bruce Cairncross, Allan Fraser and Paul Balayer about to descend with the night shift at N'chwaning II Mine, November 2004   Paul Balayer inspecting the 'hanging wall' for mineralisation, November 2004 at N'chwaning II Mine.     N'chwaning II Mine, cavity (~0.25 meter) in brecciated Manganese ore lined with needles of bultfonteinite and poldervaartite. Picture A. Fraser   Bultfonteinite with Olmiite. 5 x 6 cm. N'chwaning II Mine.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser. Specimen collected in 2007 by Paul Balayer.   Inesite fan with pink Datolite.  Kalahari Manganese Field. Specimen size: 8 x 5 cm.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   Brucite on Goethite.  3.9 x 2.6 x 2.2 cm. Nchwaning II mine. Specimen; A.Fraser  photo: B.Cairncross   Inesite and Apophyllite from the Hotazel mine.  From a find in 1965.  Specimen size: 6 x 4 cm.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   Impressive calcite vein (~30 cm in diameter) in banded iron formation, N'chwaning II Mine. Picture: A. Fraser, 2004.   Dusk ... N'chwaning II Mine, November 2004. Picture: A. Fraser   Oyelite pseudomorph after Calcite on calcite druse.  Specimen size: 5 x 4 cm.  Picture and specimen: A. Fraser Pale blue Celestite sprays with minor Celestite and Andradite and Hematite. N'chwaning II mine. Specimen size is ~ 6 cm.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   Pink Rhodochrosite with Orlymanite from N'Chwaning II Mine. Specimen size: 12 x 9 cm.  Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   Celestine (5 cm) spray on Hematite. N'chwaning II mine, Kalahari Manganese Field. Picture and specimen: A.Fraser   Allan, Craig, Paul ... mineral talk.  Assmang Lodge, Black Rock, November 2004. Picture B. Cairncross   Abandoned workings at the Black Rock Mine, Kalahari Manganese Field. 2004. Picture: A. Fraser   Celestine coated with calcite stained orange by iron oxide. 7 cm. N'chwaning II mine, Specimen A.Fraser, picture by B.Cairncross   Rhodochrosite enclosed in Gypsum 6.4 cm. Enhydro bubble just visible in left hand upper side of specimen.  Specimen: A.Fraser, photo: B.Cairncross   Buffalo Fluorite mine, Naboomspruit, Limpopo Province.  The mine has been closed for several years now and was the source of only a limited number of collectible fluorite specimens (as in the specimen below). Picture taken in June 2007, by A. Fraser   Specimen (11 x 6 cm) of deep purple fluorite from Buffalo Mine. Specimen and picture A. Fraser   Wolf Windisch and Allan at Buffalo Mine, June 2007.   Mineral collecting at Monarch Cinnabar Mine (a defunct locality), Gravellote, Murchison Range, July 2005. Picture: Richard Tasker   Monarch Cinnabar mine, circa 1940's.  Picture courtesy of Roger Harington   Some of the workings at Monarch Cinnabar mine, circa 1940's.  Picture courtesy of Roger Harington.    View from the now defunct Monarch Cinnabar mine site and adit in the distance (July 2005)   Native antimony with stibiconite from Consolidated Murchison Mine, Gravellote, South Africa. Specimen size: 8 x 6 cm. Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   Red Cinnabar as thin layers in a talc carbonate schist from Monarch Cinnabar Mine. Specimen is 15 cm. Specimen and picture: Bruce Cairncross    Monarch Antimony Mine, Gravellote, Murchison Range. July 2005. Picure: A.Fraser    At the summit of Mount Vesuvius, Napoli, Italy, September 2004   Palabora Open Pit mine as it was in May 2004. Most of the far left side has now collapsed. Town of Phalaborwa in the distance. Picture: A. Fraser. Read more on the minerals of Palabora here http://www.onlineminerals.com/article18.htm   Analcite with Fluorapophyllite and Pyrite.  Specimen size: 6 x 4 cm. Collected from bench 28 Main Dyke, Palabora Open Pit mine, Phalaborwa. Specimen and Picture: A. Fraser.  Specimen Ex - John Gliddon collected early 1980's.   A 14 x 11 cm pale green to clear mass of fluorapophyllite crystals with white mesolite crystals. Palabora mine. Collected early 1980's by John Gliddon.  Specimen is ex- Desmond Sacco collection.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   White Datolite spherules (~2mm) included in large (~3 cm) Apophyllite crystals. Specimen size: 7 x 6 cm.  Palabora mine.  Specimen ex-John Gliddon collected in the 1980's. Specimen and picture: A. Fraser     Orange coloured platy crystals of phlogopite on white calcite with micro octahedral magnetite crystals and numerous scattered blue-green micro crystals of Sjogrenite. Specimen size: 5 x 4 cm. Collected by John Gliddon in the 1980's.  Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   With large Apophyllite, Calcite and Datolite specimen from Palabora. Specimen of the Museum of the Geological Survey South Africa. Picture: Ellen De Kock, September 2011.   Foskor Open Pit Mine at Phalaborwa.  Picture taken in April 2007 by Steve Gomersall.    Danilo Rolando at the Onlineminerals.com booth at the 2007 Bologna Mineral and Fossil Show, Italy.   Onlineminerals.com booth at the Bologna Mineral and Fossil Show, Italy, March 2007   November 2006, Dinner in Torino with my Italian mineral friends after the Torino Mineral Show. Right of me is Athos Locatelli, left of me is Fabrizio Ferrero then Fulvio Giachino, Francesco Bedogne, Ezio Gianoli and closest to the camera on the right is Danilo Rolando.     Rosh Pinah Mine, Rosh Pinah, Namibia. September 2006. Picture: A.Fraser   Road to Rosh Pinah from Orangemund, Namibia.  Rare covering of grass and flowers to due to the good summer rains.  September 2006. Picture: A. Fraser   The Fish River Canyon, Namibia - rocks deeply incised by the Fish River over millions of years. Picture: A. Fraser    Mineral dealers near Uis, Namibia. Picture A. Fraser.  Circa 2002   Barite on Goethite. 4 cm. Okoroso Mine. Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   The vastness of Namibia - road somewhere between Vioolsdrift and Granau. Picture: A. Fraser. September 2006.   Skorpion Zinc mine near Rosh Pinah, Namibia. 2002. Photo courtesy J.Gutzmer. Read more on the Skorpion deposit at this link: http://www.petrology.de/Dissertation/diss_kaerner.html     Barite.  Rosh Pinah mine, Namibia. Specimen ex-Karl Sprich.  Size: 8 x 6 cm. Specimen and picture A.Fraser    A single gemmy Cerussite crystal on Smithsonite and Goethite. 3 x 2 cm. Rosh Pinah mine, Namibia. Specimen and picture:A.Fraser.  Specimen is ex-collection of Albert Johr.   Rosh Pinah mine and town, southern Namibia.  Picture: Gisela Hinder   Rare Albite crystals with Quartz (6 cm). Rosh Pinah mine.  Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   Green balls of Zincolibethenite from Skorpion mine, Namibia. Specimen size: 5 x 3 cm. Specimen and picture: A. Fraser   Yellow Smithsonite on Goethite from Rosh Pinah mine. Specimen size: 3 x 3 cm. Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   SEM image of crystals of Skorpionite from Skorpion mine. Image courtesy J. Gutzmer   Bob Fraser, Allan Fraser, Louis Coetzee and Herman van Niekerk at Witkop Fluorite mine. Note large stromatolite dome and paleocaves in the background. November 2005   Broken Hill Mine, Aggenys, South Africa. 2006. Picture: A. Fraser   8 x 6.5 x 6 cm.  A carbonate and sulphide epimorph cast (4 x 4 cm) of calcite. Broken Hill mine, Aggenys. Unknown white mineral. Specimen and picture: A. Fraser    Left to Right:Gerdus Bronn, Allan Fraser, Frank Hissong and Paul Balayer at Black Rock Mine, May 2006   Viewing the collection of Pieter du Bruyn; Left to Right: Frank Hissong, Allan and Pieter du Bruyn, May 2006   Viewing Des Sacco's collection - Frank closes in on heaven!   Frank Hissong and Bruce Cairncross   Geoff Krasnov at road cutting of banded iron-formation near Kuruman, May 2006     Geoff Krasnov and Des Sacco, May 2006   Frank Hissong, Erongo, May 2006. Picture: G. Krasnov   Allan, Donald Riekert and Frank Hissong at Don's house in Kuruman.  Looking through material from Wessels and N'chwaning Mines. May 2006   Donald Riekert (1947 - 2011), mineral dealer, poet, writer, raconteur and photographer. Picture taken in 2010 by Ludi von Bezing.   Pink and red Rhodochrosite just brought to the surface from the N'chwaning I mine. May 2006. Picture: A. Fraser   250 million year old glacial pavements at Barkly West. Read more at this link http://www.onlineminerals.com/article19.htm   Collecting natrolite from Drakensberg Basalt. Witsieshoek. September 2007   Natrolite filling solution cavity in basalt. Coin for size.  Witsieshoek, Drakensberg Mountains. Picture: A.Fraser   Pits dug by artisinal quartz miners at Boekenhouthoek, KwaNdebele. November 2004. Picture: A. Fraser   Colin Corser with artisinal quartz miners at Boekenhouthoek, KwaNdebele with large rock covered with literally hundreds of quartz-amethyst crystals.  Today this piece is part of my 'larger-specimens' collection.  November 2004 Two black quartz crystals with multiple terminations from Boekenhouthoek.  Size: 9 x 5 cm. Pitcure and specimen: A.Fraser    Large box-cuts in the ore at Ryedale Manganese Mine near Ventersdorp. 2006. Fossils leaves of the extinct glossopteris tree are found in abundance here along with the mineral, pyrolusite.  The remains of an a delta during the Permian period ~250 million years ago. Picture: A. Fraser. Wolf Windisch and mine owner Hennie Lombard in the picture.    Uwe Konig, Allan, Wolf Windisch, Henk Smit at Big Ben Mine in 2006   Sunrise on the Rio Negro, Brazilian Rain Forest, August 2002. Picture: A.Fraser   Impressive syenite plug forming a lone hill above the Lowveld plain at Phalaborwa. Picture: A. Fraser, April 2007    Headgear of the old Blyvooruitzicht Mine, Far West Rand, Witwatersrand field. A gold-uranium mine located 40 miles SW of Johannesburg. Both my grandfather and father worked at this mine.  Picture: A.Fraser, January 2008   Pering open cast mine near Reivilo, South Africa. September 2008.  The Pering deposit is the oldest Mississippi-Valley-Type deposit on earth and is of Paleoproterozoic age. Picture: A. Fraser    Pering mine, September 2008.  Mineral specimen collecting. Left to right: Colin Corser, Wolf Windisch, Owen Garvie, Martin Hengstberger, Allan Fraser   alright ......who stole my sphalerite specimen? Picture Martin Hengstberger. Pering mine, September 2008     Sphalerite crystal from Pering mine.  13 x magnification. Picture and specimen: Wolf Windisch.    ~ 2 meter rock with a mass of stromalite domes. Pering Mine Picture: Martin Hengstberger, September 2008   Martin Hengstberger and Wolf Windisch in Vryburg post Pering trip.  September, 2008   Honey coloured Sphalerite crystals on pearly dolomite crystals from Pering mine. Collected in September 2008.  Specimen size: 5 x 3 cm.  Specimen: Owen Garvie, Picture: A.Fraser   Double terminated water - clear quartz crystals on pearly dolomite.  Pering mine. Collected in person in June 2003. Size: 6 x 5 cm.  Picture and specimen: A.Fraser   Natrolite with Apophyllite on Kimberlite matrix. Jagersfontein Diamond Mine.  Specimen and picture: A. Fraser. Size: 6 x 6 cm.   EuroMineral Show 2008, Torino Italy, 2008.  Left to Right: Danielle Respino, Athos Locateli, Sandro Maggia, Allan Fraser   My friends, Danilo and Anna Rolando with part of their impressive collection.  Torino, Italy October 2008. Picture: A.Fraser Danilo's mineral web page at http://www.minservice.com/store/Scripts/rolando.asp    9 x 6 cm. An old-time specimen of lightly iridescent, golden to bronze-colored chalcopyrite crystals from the famous Nababeep West Mine of South Africa's O'kiep Copper District. The sharp, bladed crystals reach 2.0 cm on the sintered quartz matrix. Specimen A.Fraser, ex-Bruce Cairncross. Picture: A.Fraser       Rare Albite with Quartz from Rosh Pinah mine, Namibia. 7 cm.  Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   A divergent fan of Millerite (3 cm fan) in marble from Pafuri, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Collected by Martin Hengstberger. Specimen and picture: A.Fraser   Chrysocolla pseudomorph after Malachite. Chi Mine, Pilgrims Rest, South Africa.  Specimen size: 8 x 6 cm.  Old-time specimen from this gold mining area of South Africa.     Dolomitic pinnacle with stromatolite fossils.  A fossilised ecosystem dating back 3 billion years. Leseka, NW Province, South Africa. Picture by B.Cairncross. April 2011   Horst Windisch (1932-2011). Photograph by Amour Venter  at the Uis Gemboree in 2008.  Horst is seen standing in front of the Brandberg mountain.