We study, collect and promote an interest in mineral species, and there are over 4,000 of them. Minerals are composed of naturally-formed chemicals resulting in beautiful crystal forms and colours. Our everyday lives are touched by their use. Many things we use in the home or workplace have mineral associations, although we rarely realise it. Vanadium is found in a beautiful mineral called vanadinite which forms red crystals of hexagonal shape.
Steel is made from iron and iron is found in many interesting minerals.
This is an example of where minerals are processed by industry to produce a simple everyday tool. Minerals, however, are interesting objects in their natural form and making a collection is part of our hobby. Apart from learning about minerals from books and talks we go out to sites, like working quarries, to collect samples from rocks. The second part of our name relates to the equally important study of and collecting of fossils. Fossils are the visual remains of animals and plants that lived at an earlier period in the Earth's history.