Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH, Mineral Gallery
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This page is an alphabetical photo gallery of minerals from the Ruggles Mine, Grafton, New Hampshire. (A locality specific photo set from mindatnh.org) 23 species, 48 mineral photos. See also: Mindat.org locality link The Ruggles Mine, a New Hampshire tourist destination for decades, was closed in 2016. The 235 acre property was purchased in 2019 by a pair of New York investors. Per a NHPR web article, the new owners "plan on doing a major upgrade and open it back up again as a tourist attraction. The new owners have also been talking with local and regional colleges to get them involved for geology studies at Ruggles. But before re-opening, the new owners will need to do some maintenance work and getting approvals necessary for the planned expansions." The new owners hosted a "meet and greet" at the mine on August 8, 2020 to discuss their vision for the mine. From the viewpoint of the mineral collecting community, this vision is most promising. The investment to return the mine to a tourist attraction will be substantial. Phillip Morrill in his New Hampshire Mines and Mineral Localities booklet (1960), lists the following species for Ruggles: (invalid names, discredited species, discredited Ruggles occurrence (per mindat.org), and varietal names eliminated. Bold have photos here.) albite, apatite/fluorapatite, autunite/meta3, bertrandite, beryl, beta-uranophane2, biotite group (as lepidomelane), chrysoberyl, graftonite6, "gummite", kasolite1, marcasite1, muscovite6, montmorillonite, parsonsite, phosphuranylite, quartz, soddyite, torbernite/meta3,6, triphylite, uraninite, uranophane2, vandendriesscheite, vivianite, zircon. Mindat.org (2020) adds the following species: almandine, anglesite1, bismuth1, columbite-(Fe), fourmarierite ?, galena1, goethite1, löllingite, microcline1, paulscherrerite4 - (dehydrated schoepite - mineral occurs as a powdery replacement product)5, pyrite, pyrrhotite1, sillimanite, staurolite The Harvard Museum catalog adds the following species: clarkeite6 (discredited), moraesite6, schorl6, wolfeite6. The Yale-Peabody Museum catalog adds: renardite, a lead-uranium-phosphate. Renardite is not a currently approved IMA species. Ruggles occurrence not confirmed. I [tm] have added (with cautionary note) beraunite, laueite, strunzite, from a purchased specimen that are reasonable Ruggles species, given the presence of triphylite, but without additional examples, may be viewed as a suspect locality attribution. A Mineral News article, vol. 37, no. 4, April, 2021, by Fred Davis, "The Discovery of Radioactive Minerals at Ruggles mine, Grafton, New Hampshire" provides a very comprehensive discussion of RA minerals from Ruggles. The article has an extensive bibliography. ------------------------------- Notes: 1Most of the reported species that I have not seen were reported by Gunar Bjareby (1965): Fifty Years of Mineral Collecting, Part 7, Rocks & Minerals: 40: 491-493. 2 Uranophane and beta-uranophane are dimorphs, (chemically identical), and both belong to the same monoclinic class. I am unaware of any way short of XRD to differentiate these two species. 3Autunite, meta-autunite and torbernite, metatorbernite differ only in the amount of water content - the meta species has four fewer water molecules. A bit of dehydration is unlikely to be determined by collectors, so I group them together. Generally, these species lose water (dry out) when exposed to atmospheric conditions. The brighter yellow-green of autunite and emerald green of torbernite fades with time. Avoid high temperature lighting when photographing these species. 4Paulscherrerite is dehydrated schoepite. The mindat.org American Mineralogist reference implies that it may be found at Ruggles, but a proven example is lacking. 5 Korzeb et al. (1997) identified “dehydrated schoepite” as an early product of uraninite weathering in the Ruggles and Palermo granitic pegmatites, New Hampshire. [tm] Not exactly a confirmation for paulscherrerite ! 6 The Harvard Museum catalog indicates they have one or more specimens of this species. |
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Site Photo: RUGGLES MINE - August, 2020 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Photographer: Tom Mortimer Notes: Vehicle headlights entering main pit. |
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Site Photo: RUGGLES MINE, Lower dump - August, 2020 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Photographer: Tom Mortimer Notes: Much of the lower dump is overgrown. |
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Site Photo: RUGGLES MINE "meet & greet" - August, 2020 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Photographer: Tom Mortimer Notes: The new owners hosted a "meet and greet" at the mine August 8, 2020, (social distancing mostly observed). |
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Reference: RUGGLES MINE History Author: Fred Davis Notes: "US Mica Industry Pioneers" by Fred Davis, 2013. 445 pages. Thoroughly researched and extensively illustrated history of US mica mining. Includes 120 pages of references, a "Persons" index, and a subjects index. |
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Species: ALMANDINE Fe2+3Al2(SiO4)3 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 4.5 cm specimen with almandine garnet crystals to 1.5 cm Field Collected: Unknown - a purchased specimen Catalog No.: 2054 Notes: |
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Species: APATITE - FLUORAPATITE Ca5(PO4)3F Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5 cm specimen with blue-green apatite in feldspar matrix Field Collected: Sarah Bagley - Tom Mortimer - Aug., 2020 Catalog No.: NC Notes: There is a LOT of autunite intermixed in this specimen. I was surprised to see the apatite area fluoresce bright green. I broke off a several mm piece and crushed it between glass plates. Much of the crushed grains also fluoresces, but not all. I concluded that the autunite is intimately intermixed with the apatite and feldspar. The autunite presence overwhelms the yellow fluorescence of apatite. A yellow apatite fluorescence was observed on another blue-green apatite sample. |
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Species: AUTUNITE Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·11H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.5 mm autunite plate group, daylight & SW UV photos Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: NC Notes: |
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Species: AUTUNITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.2 mm autunite plate group Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2374 Notes: |
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Species: BERTRANDEITE Be4Si2O7(OH)2 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 8 mm field of view. 2.5 mm bertrandite crystals overgrown with micro quartz crystals. Field Collected: Dana Jewel Catalog No.: u1961 Notes: |
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Species: BERYL Be3Al2Si6O18 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 4.5 x 2.5 cm glassy beryl sample. Field Collected: Tom Mortimer Catalog No.: NC Notes: I picked this chunk off the quarry floor during my Aug. 8, 2020 visit. Recent rain likely aided me in spotting it. If the number of beryl crystal photos on mindat.org (one, minID HCU-R61) are an indication, nice beryl crystals are uncommon at Ruggles, despite hoards of collectors crawling over the property for decades. |
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Species: BIOTITE (group) Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 4 cm sample. Field Collected: Tom Mortimer Catalog No.: NC Notes: A voucher specimen for biotite (mica group) at the Ruggles Mine. Biotite is common here. I picked this chunk off the quarry floor during my Aug. 8, 2020 visit. |
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Species: DRAVITE
Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: Approx. one foot rock in mine floor Field Collected: Remains in mine floor. Photo August, 2020 Notes: [tm] When I spotted this on the quarry floor, I thought staurolite. Staurolite is reported at Ruggles. On a Sept 2021 visit to Ruggles, I whacked off a piece and brought home. A close examination indicated this is a dark-brown tourmaline, most likely dravite. See analysis result, next photo. |
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Species: DRAVITE-SCHORL
Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5.5 inch specimen Field Collected: Tom Mortimer Notes: On a September 2021 visit to Ruggles Mine (with permision), I whacked off a chunk of this from the quarry floor. A polished grain EDS analysis indicated a tourmaline mineral almost exactly at the dravite-schorl midpoint, just slightly on the dravite side. |
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Species: FOURMARIERITE Pb(UO2)4O3(OH)4 ·4H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 3.2 cm specimen Field Collected: John Reiner? Catalog No.: A Bob Whitmore specimen ex. John Reiner #4448 Notes: Fourmarierite has appeared on a number of earlier New Hampshire mineral species lists. However, per Frondel, C., 1956, Mineral Composition of Gummite, Am Min. V. 41 539-568: "Fourmarierite was doubtfully identified as a minor constituent of gummite from a number of localities, including .... the Palermo and Ruggles pegmatites in New Hampshire." A more recent article by Korzeb, Foord, and Lichte, The center evolution and paragenesis of uranium minerals from the Ruggles and Palermo granitic pegmatites, New Hampshire, Canadian Mineralogist, Vol. 35, pp. 135-144 (1997), expands on Frondel's paper and does not mention formarierite in the paragenesis of uranimum minerals at the subject localities. This ex. John Reiner specimen is likely typical of historical NH specimens labeled as fourmarierite. Its appearance matches Mineral 'A' described in the Korzeb et. al. article: as "the common component of orange gummite", composition: (UO2)(OH)4 · 1/2H2O + 2H+(aq) Finally, I (TM) would like to note how difficult it is to eliminate discredited species occurrences once they have appeared in the literature. Art Smith's article, New Hampshire Mineral Locality Index, included in Vol. 80 pp. 242-261 (2005), Rocks and Minerals, lists formarierite as occurring at the Ruggles Mine. |
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Species: "GUMMITE" Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 11 cm specimen, front & back Field Collected: Tom Mortimer - Aug. 2020 Catalog No.: NC Notes: "Gummite", (the orange and yellow here) is not a mineral species, but a mixture of uraninite and secondary uranium minerals of variable composition. It is generally considered a mixture of boltwoodite, clarkeite, curite, kasolite, soddyite, uraninite, and uranophane. Daylight photos. |
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Species: "GUMMITE" Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 6 cm polished surface gummite specimen Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: NC Notes: Orange gummite with black uraninite. Specimen very "hot." Left outside and took daylight photo. |
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Species: "GUMMITE" Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: TN & larger. Scale for reference Field Collected: Ruggles specimens collected by Fred Davis August 2020 Catalog No.: Fred Davis specimens Notes: Orange-yellow gummite with black uraninite. |
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Species: "GUMMITE" Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: Miniature Field Collected: Ruggles specimen collected by Fred Davis August 2020 Catalog No.: Fred Davis specimens Notes: Yellow gummite with black uraninite. |
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Species: URANINITE, ZIRCON, "GUMMITE" front & back views with annotation Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: One LEGO brick Field Collected: Ruggles specimen collected by Fred Davis August 2020 Catalog No.: Fred Davis specimens Notes: Yellow gummite with black uraninite. |
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Species: KASOLITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.6 cm specimen Field Collected: Ex. Janet Cares specimen Catalog No.: u2509 Notes: Purchased at a spring 2021 MMNE meeting auction. Janet Cares had this labeled "Soddyite." Kasolite, Pb(UO2)(SiO4)·2H2O , is suggested by polished grain EDS analyses . Kasolite is reported from the Ruggles Mine. Kasolite is the only U, Pb, Si, O mineral. |
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Species: MONTMORILLONITE
(Na,Ca)0.33(Al,Mg)2Si4O10(OH)2·nH2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 3 mm field of view. Pink, soft (clay-like) montmorillonite Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: u2376 Notes: A voucher specimen for montmorillonite at Ruggles. Montmorillonite is listed for Ruggles. |
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Species: MONTMORILLONITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 9 cm specimen with pink, soft (clay-like) montmorillonite and black biotite Field Collected: ex. Bob Whitmore Catalog No.: 2137 Notes: Hand-written label has "1950" date. |
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Species: PARSONSITE Pb2UO2(PO4)2 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 3.7 cm specimen. Parsonsite is pale, earthy, yellow mineral Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: 1661 Notes: Identified by Bob Whitmore. Caution: sight ID of earthy uranium secondary minerals is problematic. |
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Species: PHOSPHURANYLITE
KCa(H3O)3(UO2)7(PO4)4O4 · 8H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 0.4 mm flat, tabular, crystal Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: u2373 Notes: This specimen and several others came from a lot studied by Korzeb, Foord, & Lichte for their 1997 paper in Canadian Mineralogist (vol. 35, 135-144), "The Center Evolution and Paragenesis of Uranium Minerals from the Ruggles and Palermo Granitic Pegmatites, New Hampshire." |
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Species: PHOSPHURANYLITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.3 mm field of view and 0.9 mm zoom view Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2375 Notes: These small crystals have a thin rectangular bladed habit, typical for the species. Used low temperature LED light source for these photos as I did not want to heat them in any way. Phosphuranylite contains a lot of water. No, these do not fluoresce. Differentiating phosphuranylite from uranophane (and uranophane-beta) visually is very risky. All three can present as orthorhombic appearing yellow crystals. EDS can easily resolve this, as phosphuranylite is a phosphate and uranophane (& beta) are silicates. Both uranophane and phosphuranylite are reported from Ruggles. These crystals are in thin seams in fluorapatite, a mineral containing both P and Ca, required for phosphuranylite. Testing planned. |
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Species: PHOSPHURANYLITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.1 mm field of view and zoom view of lower left area Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2375 Notes: Lots of "crud" on these crystals, but reluctant to put in ultrasonic. |
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Species: SCHOEPITE (UO2)8O2(OH)12 · 12H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 2.5 cm specimen. Schoepite lemon yellow, with purchase label Field Collected: Purchased from and identified by Alexander Falster, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of New Orleans, LA. Catalog No.: 1503 Notes: |
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Species: SODDYITE (UO2)2SiO4·2H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: Yellow very fine acicular Soddyite crust on 3 cm specimen Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: 1678 Notes: |
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Species: TRIPHYLITE
LiFe2+PO4 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 4.7 cm specimen with 1.2 cm triphylite crystal, top. Zoom view is 2 cm. Field Collected: Purchased specimen from D. Robenson Minerals. Ex. Johanson collection - 1942 Catalog No.: 1876 Notes: Phillip Morrill does report triphylite as occurring at the Ruggles Mine. Triphylite crystals have scaly flakes of fluorescent autunite on their surface. Uranium minerals such as autunite are common at the Ruggles Mine. Specimen contains many broken triphylite crystals, but only one essentially complete one. |
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Species: TRIPHYLITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5.5 cm specimen of massive triphylite. Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: NC Notes: The brownish areas are likely an alteration to ferrisicklerite. A 5 mm uraninite crystal protrudes for the top of the specimen. |
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Species: URANINITE UO2 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5 mm uraninite crystal Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: NC Notes: Euhedral, un-altered, uraninite crystals are uncommon at Ruggles based on the paucity of similar photos on mindat.org. |
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Species: URANINITE UO2 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 6.5cm x 5cm x 1.5cm. Field Collected: Fred Davis Catalog No.: Fred Davis C0451 Notes: This polished side was used for making autoradiographs, popular in the 1940s and -50s. |
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Species: URANINITE UO2 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5 cm field of view. Daylight and SW UV lighting Field Collected: Fred Davis Catalog No.: Fred Davis C0164 Notes: Massive fluorapatite with uraninite and secondaries (that follow the radial fractures from the uraninite in the apatite). This detail view reveals a cluster of uraninite crystals in the apatite with radial fractures. This is the uncommon occurrence described by Ben Shaub (1938) AmMin "Uraninite from Grafton Center, New Hampshire." Collected 2004. |
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Species: URANINITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 5 mm uraninite crystal Field Collected: Bob Whitmore & Harvard research associates Catalog No.: NC Notes: Euhedral, un-altered, uraninite crystals are uncommon at Ruggles based on the paucity of similar photos on mindat.org. |
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Species: URANOPHANE
Ca(UO2)2[SiO3(OH)]2 · 5H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 0.4 mm uranophane spray Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2377 Notes: The few scattered orthorhombic prisms are likely phosphuranylite. Uranophane and uranophane-beta are chemically equivalent, monoclinic, dimorphs. Presently (2020) these are grouped together as uranophane. |
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Species: URANOPHANE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 4 mm field of view Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2377 Notes: |
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Species: VANDENDRIESSCHEITE PbU7O22 · 12H2O Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. Cluster of subhedral, orange-yellow, Vandendriesscheite crystals Field Collected: Al Stevenson (August, 1968) A purchased specimen. Catalog No.: u1236 Notes: ID by original field collector, Al Stevenson. Species is reported from the Ruggles Mine. Specimen color and luster are appropriate for vandendriesscheite. [tm]No other photos or specimens of Ruggles Mine vandendriesscheite are known to me. There are several other intense yellow, secondary, uranium species reported from Ruggles. Many are components of "gummite." Differentiating these species is difficult. |
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Species: ZIRCON ZrSiO4 Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.5 mm zircon crystal Field Collected: Harvard research Catalog No.: u2377 Notes: Edge-view greenish autunite plate to lower right of zircon crystal. |
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Species: ZIRCON Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 1.8 cm specimen Field Collected: From the Janet Cares collection. Fred Davis specimen from 2020 MMNE auction Catalog No.: A Fred Davis specimen Notes: Janet had this specimen labeled uraninite |
I [tm] have added (with cautionary note) beraunite, laueite, strunzite, from a purchased specimen that are reasonable Ruggles species, given the presence of triphylite, but without additional examples,
may be viewed as a suspect locality attribution. A three inch specimen purchased at the Gilsum Swap, June 2008, ($5.00) contained a number of micro phosphate minerals. Several phosphate minerals are listed for Ruggles (mindat.org and Phillip Morrill), including triphylite, vivianite, and graftonite, but laueite, strunzite, and beraunite are not. One has to be suspect of purchased specimens of uncommon minerals from a locality, particularly when no other examples exist. Laueite, strunzite, and beraunite are alterations of triphylite seen at several other NH localities. Multiple examples of triphylite are known from Ruggles, (two here). However, there is no substitute for the certainty of self-collected examples of the less common phosphate species. I would like to hear from any collector that has well documented secondary phosphate specimens from the Ruggles Mine. |
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Species: LAUEITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 0.9 mm field of view. A bit of strunzite is also present. Field Collected: Unknown Catalog No.: u775 Notes: |
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Species: STRUNZITE Locality: Ruggles Mine, Grafton, NH Specimen Size: 2 mm field of view Field Collected: Unknown Catalog No.: u963 Notes: |