Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter 2026 Symposium - Colorado 150

The Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter is pleased to announce that our symposium will be returning in 2026 from June 11th – 15th, in Berthoud Hall at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. The symposium theme will be “Colorado 150: Celebrating 150 Years of Colorado Statehood”

This event will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood with a weekend of field trips, workshops, and presentations pertaining to Colorado mineralogy. All who are interested in minerals and mineralogy are welcome to attend.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE:

Thursday June 11

• Mineral Collecting Field Trips
  • See ticket page for additional information.

• Behind-the-Scenes Tours of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
  • See ticket page for additional information.

Friday June 12

• Mineral Specimen Preparation Demo at Collectors Edge (10am and 2pm)
  • See ticket page for additional information.

• Opening Reception at the Mines Museum of Earth Science: 5pm – 8pm
  • Food and drink will be provided. This event will include a silent auction and a live auction around 6:30pm.

Saturday June 13

Presentations will be in Berthoud Hall room 241. Presentations will be approximately 50 minutes each, including time for questions, and there will be a ~20 minute break between each presentation. Schedule and speaker order are tentative and subject to change.

8:30am – Tea, Coffee, and Morning Snacks
8:50am – Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00am – Bryan Lees: “The Detroit City Mine Rhodochrosite Mining Project."
9:50am – Morning Break 1
10:10am – Jasper Bertisen: “Mineral Collecting Adventures in the San Juan Mountains”
11:00am – Morning Break 2
11:20am – Ed Raines: “The Colorado Mineral Belt”
12:10pm – 1:30pm ~ TACO BUFFET LUNCH ~ (New this year: registration includes a lunch buffet.)
1:30pm – Howard Coopersmith: “Geology and Mineralogy of Colorado Diamonds”
2:20pm – Afternoon Break 1
2:40pm – Chris Emproto: “Secondary Minerals of the Colorado Plateau Uranium-Vanadium Mines”
3:30pm – Afternoon Break 2
3:50pm – Dan Kile: “55 Years of Colorado Mineral Collecting Antics”

The first day of symposium presentations is expected to conclude by 5:30pm.

Sunday June 14

8:30am – Tea, Coffee, and Morning Snacks
9:00am – Mark Jacobson: “The Pegmatites of Colorado: A Survey of Localities”
9:50am – Morning Break 1
10:10am – Jason Roys & Ian Schimpfle: “Blue Fever: Adventures in Prospecting For Aquamarine and Other Gems on Mount Antero”
11:00am – Morning Break 2
11:20pm – Benjamin Murphy & Jonathan Caine: “Tectonomagmatic Controls on the Formation and Localization of Mineral Occurrences in Colorado and Reassessment of the Origin of the 'Colorado Mineral Belt'”
12:10pm – Concluding Remarks

The second day of symposium presentations is expected to conclude by 12:30pm. After lunch, the Rocky Mountain Micromineral Association will hold a micromineral summit in partnership with the Friends of Mineralogy Colorado Chapter Symposium.

Colorado Micromineral Summit: 1:30 – 4pm, GRL201 (room adjacent to the Mines Museum)

Link to the digital program booklet