We will shortly announce the opening of The Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research, made possible by a generous donation from the Williams family. Below market pricing of analytical services (XRD, EDS, XRF etc.) for mineral collectors and other interested groups will be offered. Stay tuned!

In addition to the equipment already on hand, we are actively seeking support from the scientific and educational communities to help outfit our descriptive mineralogy laboratory and classrooms. The Institute has received Internal Revenue Service approval for tax exempt status as specified under section 501( c)(3) of the IRS Code. As such, donations to the Institute, whether in cash or materials, are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

We will consider donations of working analytical equipment, thin sections, polished sections, microscopes or other useful tools for our educational programs, in addition to labeled mineral specimens from any locality.

A partial list of needed items includes the following, and all should be in good working condition:

X-Ray Film Processing Equipment

• Table top film drier.
  

• Film readers (eg. by Higer-Watts) and any X-ray film supplies.
  

• Dark room equipment [need three tanks (developer, fixer, water), safety lights, timer, etc.].

• Water chiller (preferably Haskris brand, but Coolwell also acceptable).

Microscopes, Supplies & Liquids

• Binocular microscopes & Fiber optic light sources

• Petrographic microscopes with many of the trimmings, essentials, and accessories; should be research-grade microscopes where possible, although student models are also useful.

• Spindle-stages and cells to be used with the petrographic microscopes.

• Small-interval sets of Cargille optical liquids.

• Abbe refractometer

• Old sodium-lamps, or sodium filters otherwise.

Sample preparation Equipment

• Thin-section preparation benches with 2 or 3 horizontal wheels and accessories.

• Precision trim saws

• Microwave digestion bombs made of Teflon

• High pressure presses for making pellets

• Platinum ware for fusing XRF disks, plus the standard burners that
  are used for that purpose (Spex)

• Mortars and pestles and other basic lab ware

• Shatter boxes, jaw crushers, and pulverizing mills (Spex for example)

• Epoxy for mounting and impregnating of samples

Analytical chemistry Equipment

• Wavelength-dispersive equipped microprobe

• Analytical standards

• Infrared (transmitted or reflected) spectrometer

• SIMS system

• Laser Raman system

• DCP (direct-coupled plasma spectrometer)

• ICP (inductively-coupled plasma spectrometer) with mass spec

• Ion chromatograph (Dionex for example)

Specimens

• Mineral specimens (labeled only!) and collections. Aesthetics are unimportant!

• Thin Section Collections