Martin Marietta Hickory Quarry
Catawba County, North Carolina
October 13, 2007
By Mike Streeter
(mcstreeter@charter.net)

Chrissy, I and other Catawba Valley Gem and Mineral Club members spent Saturday morning at the Martin Marietta Hickory Quarry in Lenoir. Since we have been to the quarry numerous times and have taken tons of pictures there, I opted to leave my camera at home. However, just to give you a flavor of the immense size of the quarry, check out the following picture taken in January 2006.


Martin Marietta Hickory Quarry
Click on the above picture to enlarge

The pickings at the quarry were slimmer overall than most days, but we did manage to find a batch of nice specimens of the usual suspects, including quartz, stilbite, laumontite, calcite and pyrite. I'll let the following specimen pictures tell the rest of the story.

Click on each specimen picture to enlarge

Click on each specimen picture to enlarge

Click on each specimen picture to enlarge

With Bill Hayward's help, I was especially pleased to recover a specimen that contained a nice smattering of pyrite crystals that are relatively large for the location.

Please bear in mind that prior arrangements must be made with the mine superintendent in order to collect at this location so that you should not show up unannounced on any given Saturday or any other day expecting to rockhound.


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