Minerals

Ferrierite, a very rare type of zeolite mineral that forms in only a few areas of the world, and our area is one of those. Currently under claim.  

This is a special type of agate where another mineral mineralizes in the cavity first before the agate forms later - these make 'eyes' or round circles on the surface of the agate. You can see some cavities where some eyes have popped out. 

While we don't tend to get as deep and rich of a purple as the ones you can get from Brazil, quartz in its many forms is plentiful in our area. This type is macrocrystalline, meaning you can see the crystals with your bare eyes, vs chalcedony, which you need magnification to see the crystal structure. It's all still a form of quartz though, which is made of silica. 

Vesicular basalt. Basalt is a very common type of extrusive igneous stone (it is volcanic in origin and erupted close to the surface) that is high in silica, and is often very thick, which means it can trap gasses. These trapped gasses can leave bubbles, or vesicles behind in the stone, which can be filled with minerals like chalecedony/agate. 

Also known as 'rice stone' or if they arrange into the correct pattern, 'flower' or 'chrysanthemum' stone. A type of igneous (volcanic) rock that has these bigger crystals (in these case they are feldspar) form within the magma chamber as the mineral will crystalize out at higher temps, then when the volcano erupts, the darker material hardens quickly and forms the darker material.   

Jade is actually a common name used to describe two stones; nephrite jade, which is found here in BC, and jadite jade, which is commonly found in Asia and other parts of the world, but not in Canada. It is a highly prized stone that is used both for carving and jewelry. It takes the right pressures, low temperatures and chemicals in the stones to make nephrite and it is common to find it around other related fibrous minerals such as serpentine or asbestos.   

This is a form of chalcedony, the cryptocrystalline form of quartz. Agates are another example. You can identify it by the waxy look and feel, and also by conchoidal fractures - these look little half moon imprints your nails you leave behind in soft clay. Jasper comes in many colours, like red, green and yellow, and these can be combined together.  

Pyrite, or 'fools gold' often is mistaken for gold when found in quartz - often poking at it with a sewing pin will show that it isn't gold; pyrite will chip, gold dents, but there are other tell tale signs like colour and crystal habit - these are pyrite cubes in mica schist, but you can also find cubes in other minerals such as the jasper found pictured beside this.  

This is a form of chalcedony, and are generally considered agates when they have banding or lines. Again, identification is often via their shape, waxiness or conchoidal fractures, but often people will look for agates when they're still locked within the host rock, trapped in the vesicular basalt still in the earth - which often means first looking for the basalt and then a lot of hard work with a sledge hammer and a rock chisel.  

It is commonly pink, found in anywhere from baby pink shades to salmons to bright bubble gum but can be found in reds, greens and other colours as well & can be swirled like jasper (but it's a soft than jasper, a 5 on the Moh's scale vs a 7). It has an added trick up it's sleeve; once exposed to oxygen, the rock will oxidize black, which means to identify it, you'll have to chip off a lot of the surface of a lot of black rocks to find the right one.