My interest in mineralogy or minerals was already inspired in my childhood by my birthplace, only 300 meters away from a well-known limestone quarry (quarry Meyer, Eschweiler-Hastenrath, Germany). But it was not until the 1970s that mineral collecting and specifying became my hobby. Due to my professional activity I had the possibility to examine mineral finds more exactly by means of SEM-EDS, EPMA and XRD analyses. Thus I am involved as a co-author in many scientific descriptions and the registration of new mineral species. I have also published a great many popular scientific articles in collector's journals such as Lapis, Mineralien-Welt, Der Aufschluss and MICRO- (Italian Micro-mineralogical Association).
Especially the publication of the DVD series "The Minerals of the Volcanic Eifel" (in german) was one of the highlights for me.
My special collecting areas are the minerals of the Volcanic Eifel, quartz minerals and the minerals of the Aris quarries in Namibia. Furthermore I am engaged in analytical mineral identification together with colleagues like Joy Desor, Gerhard Möhn, Nikita Chukanov, Igor Pekov and others. The excellent photographers Fred Kruijen, Volker Heck, Gerhard Niceus help in exemplary cooperation with the photographic documentation.

Best regards

Günter Blass