The Mineralogical Society of Southern California

Program Notes: Friday, November 14, 2025  at 7:30, join us for Les Presmyk presenting Calcite from Arizona

Arizona is well known for its copper and lead minerals including azurite, malachite, copper, cuprite, vanadinite and wulfenite.  Calcite, not so much.  Dick Graeme once told me he thought calcite was one of the Big Five of collectable and displayable species from Bisbee.  I certainly agree.  Other notable calcite localities in Arizona include the Magma mine at Superior, the Old Dominion mine in Globe and the cuprite included calcites from Ray and Ajo. 

Calcite, unlike quartz, is susceptible to the action of percolating meteoric waters so that near surface environments result in etched and dull crystals.  As a result, many, but not all, of Arizona’s calcite localities are the copper mines, or at least underground mines.  There are a few near surface locations but not many.

There is a wide variety of shapes and colors.  Associated minerals include quartz, baryte, copper, cuprite and malachite.  Localities stretch from the Grand Canyon to the southern border with Mexico.  Most of the localities are located south of the Colorado Plateau and Mogollon Rim.  There are even a number of localities that produce fluorescent specimens.

Les Presmyk spent 42 years as a mining engineer in underground copper and coal mines in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico for Salt River Project, Arizona’s second largest electric utility. He and his wife of 49 years, Paula, are Arizona natives and are both graduates of the University of Arizona.  Les has been actively involved in his community of Gilbert, Arizona for over 30 years, serving as an H.O.A. president, Planning Commissioner, and Town Councilmember for 12 years and additional roles since 2011, including starting and chairing its Veterans Advisory Board.  On October 6, 2025, he assumed the role of Arizona’s State Mine Inspector.

Les started collecting at the age of 10 and just attended his 62^nd straight Tucson Show.  Their displays have received AFM Regional and National Trophies, along with the Prospectors and Pearl Trophies in Denver and the Desautels, Lidstrom and Bideaux Trophies at the Tucson Show.  They have been the featured exhibitors at the East Coast Gem & Mineral Show in Springfield, Massachusetts twice.

Les is a former President of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society, is a former President of the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, Board member and Chairman of the Flagg Mineral Foundation, a founding member of the University of Arizona Mineral Museum Advisory Board, and a member of the Tucson Show Committee for 39 years, along with the 2026 Show co-chairman.  He is a member and vice-chairman of the advisory board for the University of Arizona Mining, Mineral and Natural Resources Education Museum in Phoenix.

Les received the 2002 A. L. Flagg Distinguished Service Award, Is a charter member of the 2014 Mineralogical Society of Arizona Hall of Fame, the recipient of the 2017 Carnegie Mineralogical Award, and the 2023 John S. White Mineral Legacy Award.

Les has explored and collected in a number of localities in Arizona, Missouri and Mexico and provided mining and engineering expertise at the San Francisco mine in Sonora, Mexico, the Brushy Creek mine in Missouri and the Red Cloud mine in Arizona.  Les has written numerous articles and co-authored “Collecting Arizona – State of Mines, Legacy of Minerals”. 

He has spoken at various symposiums, including Dallas, Yale, and the Northwest Friends of Mineralogy Symposium, along with numerous Arizona and New Mexico Symposiums, the Tucson, Springfield, and Denver Shows, and many clubs throughout the United States.