Basalt
Allan all, With BC on the mind I've been thinking about acquiring some basalt myself. Agrowinn (888-794-3674) is selling the Suma, $4800.00/10 ton load (without shipping) and 50 lbs bags for $20. Nuthin But Rock (616-674-3078) (recommended by JPI) is selling basalt fines for $10 / 25 lb box with a reduced frieght charge if you buy 10. Hugh C. uses this and says that these fines need to be sifted for use in BC. It's the shipping that's the killer...especially for those of us who live far from the mountains (any mountains!) Had a number for a basalt mine in North Carolina a while ago, but I've misplaced itwill have to go through some stacks to find it again. Talked with a company that was mining green 'meta-basalt in Virginia, but never got a call back with more information... Good to see more 'local' posts on the list... Ed
Re: Basalt
Ed - Got more info on that VA Basalt? There is also supposedly a paramagnetic basalt dust source near Dulles Airport, but I've never located it/ (Anyone?) -Allan Which reminds me: how paramagnetic is Suma?
Re: Basalt
Luck Stone (1-800-898-LUCK) Talked with someone about sending me more information about the metabasalt...but never recieved a response. If you find out more info...let me know (Virginia is closer to me than Canada) Ed on a side note...if one does locate a source of rock close to home, how would one go about checking the paramagnetic qualities of such a material?? (where can it be sent?) Ed - Got more info on that VA Basalt? There is also supposedly a paramagnetic basalt dust source near Dulles Airport, but I've never located it/ (Anyone?) -Allan Which reminds me: how paramagnetic is Suma?
Re: Basalt
Allan Steve, Are you concerned that basalt from a source near an airport might be contaminated with lead and other undesirables? What about town leaf litter for compost in terms of pesticides? Will that burn out in a pile? Jane From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 09:23:55 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Basalt Ed - Got more info on that VA Basalt? There is also supposedly a paramagnetic basalt dust source near Dulles Airport, but I've never located it/ (Anyone?) -Allan Which reminds me: how paramagnetic is Suma?
Re: Basalt
Re the basalt from Nuthin but rock.. I got 8 tons from him (Gary Wilson) last fall, one of the last loads of 3/16 average, before there was a change of ownership at his quarry source. I'll be seeing him in a week or so to find out if the new owners are still planning to allocate the desired grit size for ag use. Incidentally, Gary tells me that larger pebbles have a significantly higher reading on his instrument, but i dont know firsthand if there are enough smaller finings in a load to glean a significant quantity for finer/ seedling work. If anyone wants, i would be happy to shuffle any communication with him if it saves telephone costs. I'm still waiting to see test results this spring from his dust spread on a local BD dairy farm's pasture in alternate strip application. For what it's worth, i have leftover pieces of drywall under my seedling flats, imagining that its composition would be complementary to the radiant rock dust in the trays sitting on it. My original reason for the drywall was as a heatsink to gradualize any temperature fluctuations. I guess i should do a test comparison, but my space is so limited. ..manfred - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 9:23 AM Subject: Re: Basalt Ed - Got more info on that VA Basalt? There is also supposedly a paramagnetic basalt dust source near Dulles Airport, but I've never located it/ (Anyone?) -Allan Which reminds me: how paramagnetic is Suma?
Re: Basalt
Ed on a side note...if one does locate a source of rock close to home, how would one go about checking the paramagnetic qualities of such a material?? (where can it be sent?) I have sent this out to a couple of others on the list it may help you When you are looking at rock dusts you can do a simple test for paramagnetism that will let you sort some of them out. I use a stack of little strong magnets on a string - the magnets that people use in healing patches are ideal. These are about a quarter inch round (called neo dimium I think) and you use them for pain relief - stuck on the skin in a little circular bandaid patch - I bet you know somebody that uses these - anyway about four used ones of these in a little stack (or anything similar) - tie a cotton or light string around the middle so you can hang the magnet down about a foot - now this is a sensitive scientific instrument so we need to calibrate it - get a sample of paramagnetic rock that you know the test reading of and keep it for reference (about 3000 to 4000 cgs is ideal) - use 35mm film canisters for the rock samples (or a paper envelope) - hold the canister in one hand on its side and the magnet on a string in the other - contact the magnet to the end of the canister then slowly move the string hand away - keeping just enough tension so there is no slack in the string but not pulling either - with reasonably good rock you find the string on about 45 degree angle before the magnet comes away - this is a good and quite accurate test IF you have a known rock for comparison and it lets you take a preliminary look at anything you find without spending any money - only thing is you need a strong little magnet - the sort they use for fridge ornaments are not good enough. This method lets you test local rock any time you see it and once you have a known sample to compare with I think its a good enough test for paramagnetic activity, once you get that far then I think that testing money is better spent looking at what is the mineral makeup of the rock - some rocks have good paramagnetism but lousy trace mineral analysis. Your prices for rock seem high unless this is a special fine grind for farming - we can buy the best rock in Aus for around 50bucks a ton ex the quarry - but we only can get crusher dust grade this goes from about 3/16 down to powder most of its like sand. Cheers Lloyd Charles
