Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures

Over 2,300 specimens of minerals, rocks, meteorites and gems
on permanent display from December 20, 2008

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) unveils the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures on December 20, 2008, on Level 2 of the Weston Family Wing on December 20, 2008. Composed of the Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals, the Gallery of Gems and Gold and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery, the galleries occupy a combined total of 6,900 square feet and showcase the ROM’s exceptional specimens of minerals, gems, meteorites and rocks, a collection among the finest in North America. The fascinating displays are contextualized by over 40 interactive touch screen stations, compelling video exhibits and engrossing information on Canada’s mining industry.

“This highly-anticipated home for the ROM’s mineral collections contains almost twice as many specimens as in the last gallery,” said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO. “These engaging, interactive spaces will surprise and fascinate anyone curious about the treasures of our natural world.”

Donald R. Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck and member of the ROM's Board of Governors, stated, “As a proud Canadian mining company, we believe in the importance of understanding our natural resources. Everything we use in our daily lives actually comes from only two sources: it is either grown and harvested or it is mined from the Earth. The Teck Suite of Galleries will help people learn more about the key minerals that support their lives. We are pleased to assist the ROM to present this suite of galleries, fostering further appreciation of the world around us as well as an important Canadian industry.”

VALE INCO LIMITED GALLERY OF MINERALS

The Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals, the largest gallery in the Teck Suite of Galleries, occupies 6,098 square feet and presents the ROM's exceptional specimens of minerals, meteorites and rocks, exploring such areas as the classification of minerals, their physical and scientific properties, causes of mineral colour and the geological environments necessary for mineral growth. This gallery features the ROM’s renowned meteorite collection, including one of the biggest lunar meteorites on display in the world.

"Understanding the complexities of minerals and mining has never been made so clear or fascinating as in the Teck Suite of Galleries,” said Dr. Kim Tait, ROM Associate Curator of Mineralogy. “The complex ‘recipes’ that make up gems and minerals are broken down and explained. Whether our visitors are interested in industry, chemistry, gemmology or simply appreciate amazing shapes and colours, the Teck Suite of Galleries will appeal to them all.”

On entering the Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals, along the northeast side of the gallery, a display details what minerals are, how they form and the classic localities around the world famous for exceptional mineral growth. Visitors will learn that minerals form over a wide range of temperatures, pressures and environments, some crystallizing from extremely hot magma deep within the Earth, from volcanic gases and from watery solutions. Each variety of crystal needs a special confluence of circumstances in order to grow. Amethyst, the highly-prized purple variety of the mineral quartz, is displayed as an example of how this particular mineral grew as well-formed crystals lining cavities found in 130 million-year-old volcanic rocks from southern Brazil. The gallery also explores the conditions necessary for significant crystal growth and the localities famous for mineral growth. Minerals mined from these regions are displayed, including a prehnite specimen from the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec’s Shipton Township. This particular area is also famous for deposits of the beautiful grossular crystal, a variety of garnet.

Along the gallery’s western wall, a section devoted to systematic mineralogy explains how elements form a myriad of combinations, resulting in over 4,000 known species which are classified according to their chemistry and crystal structure (arrangement of atoms). The physical properties that mineralogists and geologists use to identify minerals, such as hardness, transparency, and lustre, are also explained. This detailed classification of minerals is necessary because widely different species sometimes have the same chemical composition. For example, graphite, one of the softest substances on Earth, consists of the same elements as diamond, the hardest naturally-formed substance. This area displays many surprising and unusual specimens, such as rutile, a golden mineral with needles positioned in six-ray stars. Minerals can also be classified by colour and the southeastern portion of the Vale Inco Gallery describes how a crystal’s hue is determined by how it absorbs or removes parts of the visible spectrum of colour. It is often impurities or tiny defects within crystals that cause their rich colour, without which they would appear to be colourless. Another display illustrates that certain minerals appear to glow in a variety of colours when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light.

The northwest corner of the gallery is devoted to the ROM’s excellent meteorite collection, including over 100 different specimens. Visitors will learn how they are formed, some from collisions between asteroids over 4.5 billion years ago, and others from fragments of the Moon or Mars. These oddities from outer space reveal the chemical building blocks that made up our universe and the history of our own solar system. Highlights include the Tagish Lake meteorite, the only specimen of its kind on display in the world, which may contain trapped nanocrystals of diamonds formed in a star that predated our Sun. A meteorite from Mars, the largest in the ROM’s collection, is one of only approximately 38 known Martian meteorites. Also showcased is the fourth largest lunar meteorite in existence in the world. This recent acquisition, weighing 1.1 kilograms and courtesy of the Louise Hawley Stone Trust, has never been on public display.

The R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation Avenue of Minerals Exhibit is the gallery’s central walkway leading to the Gallery of Gems and Gold, and is lined with some of the ROM’s largest and most impressive mineral specimens. Included amongst these is a sandstone formation, known colloquially as a “gogotte”. This bizarre natural structure is an example of concretions which occur in 30 million-year-old sands left by an ancient river system in what is now the Paris Basin in France. The bulbous shapes created by sand cemented into place by silica results in a rock formation that looks oddly organic.

TOUCH-SCREEN LABELLING

The Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals employs a new interactive touch-screen labeling system in lieu of conventional printed specimen labels. Each case in the gallery is flanked by computer kiosks, 42 stations in total, containing high resolution images and detailed information about the items displayed in the case or elsewhere in the gallery. This sophisticated labeling technology allows visitors to pinpoint where specimens are located within the gallery and easily locate more information items of their choosing. The label script can also be enlarged for ease of reading. The high resolution photography of each of the gallery’s specimens, combined with the zoom-in feature of the system, allow visitors to appreciate each item’s intricate details.

GALLERY OF GEMS AND GOLD

The Gallery of Gems and Gold, located in the southeast corner of the Teck Suite of Galleries, is an 800-square-foot room specially-designed to highlight gems, crystals and precious metals. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition is Light & Stone: Gems from the Collection of Michael Scott, featuring over 200 specimens of precious stones, gem crystals, jewellery and gem artworks. Arguably the most important private collection in North America, the Michael Scott Collection has few rivals in the world, outside of the royal families. These breathtaking and unmatched specimens are part of the ROM’s A Season of Gems and will be on display from December 20, 2008 until November 15, 2009.

Among the exhibition’s highlights is a 9,000-carat carved quartz sculpture entitled Repose, depicting a nude male youth with a drape made of 18 karat gold over his lap. A spectacular tiara entitled Queen of Kilimanjaro, featuring the world’s largest faceted tanzanite (242 carats) encircled by hundreds of rare garnets and diamonds will dazzle visitors.

CANADIAN MINING HALL OF FAME GALLERY

In the southwest corner of the Teck Suite of Galleries, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery showcases the importance of the mining industry in our everyday lives and highlights the exceptional contributions of Canadians to this industry. A 15-foot-by-6-foot fully bilingual, interactive video wall controlled by two computer kiosks located in front, dominates this area. Divided into two sections, the left side portrays the biographies and personal stories of 137 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame inductees where visitors can search profiles. As more Canadians are annually inducted into the Hall, their profiles will be added to the ROM’s comprehensive display. On the right of the screen, a presentation explains how mining touches every part of our lives and short videos explore a variety of minerals such as silver, titanium and zinc. Visitors will learn that the average Canadian uses over 20,000 kg of minerals annually, and that Canada is an international leader in mining, producing and exporting a wide variety of minerals, metals, and mineral-based products. The wall also depicts a map of Canada as well as fast-facts about the mining industry. Another adjacent screen presents a video about mining in the 21st century, including depictions of the latest modern-day mining techniques. This area also features ore specimens mined from various Canadian localities.

A SEASON OF GEMS

The openings of the Teck Suite of Galleries and the Light & Stone exhibition are part of the ROM’s A Season of Gems, which also includes The Nature of Diamonds, presented by De Beers Canada. This most wide-ranging exhibition ever developed on the allure of diamonds, appears until Sunday, March 22, 2009 in the Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall, located on Level B2 in the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.

ROM FOR THE HOLIDAYS

This coming holiday season, the ROM is celebrating the opening of the Teck Suite of Galleries and the Light & Stone exhibition with exciting hands-on programming for the whole family. Families are welcome to join in the fun and make a diamond tiara, construct scientific diamond models, sift through mine gravel for gems, pan for gold, and even go on a prospecting hunt for earth’s treasures. ROM for the Holidays runs from December 27 to January 4. Activities take place between 11 am to 4 pm and are included with Museum admission.

OTHER INFORMATION

ROM Members already know that the best way to experience the ROM is through Membership. A ROM Individual or Family Membership delivers numerous benefits, including free general admission, newsletters, events, previews, discounts and much more. An exclusive Members' Sneak Peek of the Teck Suite of Galleries, including the special exhibition Light & Stone: Gems from the Collection of Michael Scott, takes place on Friday, December 19, 2008. For additional information or to purchase a membership, call 416.586.5700 or visit www.rom.on.ca/members

Docents from the ROM’s Department of Museum Volunteers will offer free tours of the Teck Suite of Galleries including the Light & Stone exhibition at regularly scheduled times. Visit www.rom.on.ca/visit/calendar/index.php for more information.

Admission to the Teck Suite of Galleries is included with paid general admission. Adults: $22; Students and Seniors with ID: $19; Children (4 to 14 years) $15; Children 3 & under are free. Half price admission prices, presented by Sun Life Financial, apply on Friday nights from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Groups of 10 or more adults may call Mirvish Productions Group Sales at 416.593.4142 or 1.800.724.6420 for information on special rates and private guided tours. Schools and student groups should visit www.rom.on.ca/schools/or call the ROM's Education Department at 416.586.5801 for information on the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures School Visits which are offered at both the elementary and secondary level.

The suite of galleries is named for the mining company Teck Limited, whose generous contribution to the Renaissance ROM campaign was the largest corporate gift in the Museum’s history. In addition to the Teck Suite of Galleries, this gift helped create the Teck Endowed Chair in Mineralogy and the Teck Digital Education Module in Earth Sciences.