Omya Fluorescent Minerals 
When Howard Brown, lead geologist for Omya International's White Knob Quarry, contacted us about a night hunt for fluorescent minerals at the quarry, we jumped at the chance. The White Knob Quarry is a calcium carbonate quarry. In the daytime the brilliant white of the calcium carbonate is enough to give an Eskimo a bad case of snow blindness. However, periodically, when certain types of overburden are stripped off of the ore body, it becomes a fluorescent mineral hunter's paradise when the sun sets! This waste rock is composed of calcite, wollastonite, aragonite, hyalite, feldspar, dolomite and diopside to mention a few of the colorful minerals to be encountered. We're complete amateurs when it comes to fluorescent minerals, but a recently purchased quality black light has rekindled our interest in stumbling around in the dark! If you're looking for a new hobby or something to fill up those long desert nights, or just want to see what silliness the Dzrtgrls are up to now, you've got to check out this trip! The moon isn't due to rise until several hours after sunset so we've got plenty of time to check out the quarry in complete darkness. Grab your camera, rock hammer and glow in the dark mouse 'cause we're headin' for the dark side!