The Kelly Mine, located near the small town of
Since collecting at the Kelly Mine has gone on already for over a hundred years I had little hope of finding such pieces. However, I figured that there was good chance that nobody had seriously searched there for fluorescents so it seemed worth a try. Indeed I found a number of interesting pieces, the highlights being Smithsonite that glows violet and associated Calcite that glows red. For some reason the red Calcite only occurs in association with the Smithsonite. Elsewhere in the mine the Calcite is the more typical orange color.
Another mineral I found there glows a creamy yellow color and occurs as a weathered coating. My initial identification was Aragonite but I became less sure when I noticed that there was little or no phosphorescence and also no response under midwave or longwave. This mineral, whatever it is, is quite different than the typical textured Caliche coating.
Note: Most of the Smithsonite specimens require a strong lamp to bring out the colors effectively.