Expominer, Mineral and Fossils Exhibition Bourse, 26ª will celebrate his edition from the 12 to the 14 of November of 2004 in the Palace nº 6 of Montjuïc. The contest, that the Fira of Barcelona organizes annually, will count on the presence of near 120 exhibitors, 51% from which come from the Spanish authonom Communities, and rest 49% of countries of Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. All of them will present/display their collections of fossils, minerals and gems that will be able to be bought, to be sold or to be interchanged "in situ". The exhibition will occupy more than 4,000 square meters of surface, and hopes to receive to more than 15,000 visitors.

Also, the show will continue maintaining its double slope of commercial and cultural contest, affecting its function of promoter of the collecting, as well as its important divulging work, approaching  more young people to mineralogy and paleontology.

On the other hand, the Expominer Show will continue harnessing this year the sector of the Mineral Jewelry and Bisutery. One is the supply of semiprecious jewels, made with metals like silver, gold or silver plated in gold and precious stones or semiprecious, as they can be the amethyst, obsidian, topaz, amber or lapis lazuli among others. The semiprecious jewels present/display a wide fan of styles and designs, that go from most classic to ethnic or the vanguardistas ones, combined with metals or other materials like the leather and the weave. It is possible to emphasize that all the articles of bisutery and jewels that will be exposed in this sector will be able to acquire directly in the hall.

Cultural Exhibitions: "Jaws of Shark" and "Desert of Mongolia"

The contest present in this edition a thematic exhibition on "Jaws of Shark", presenting a replica of the jaw of Carcharodon Megalodon, the greater shark known

The Carcharodón Megalodón appeared in the Earth oceans during Miocene, makes approximately 16 million years. It is a giant shark, without a doubt the greater known marine predator and that could get to measure 18 meters in length and with a weight of 52 tons. They were fed on whales and they lived until the Pliocene, makes 1.6 million years. The jaws are an replica of the conserved ones in the Museum of Natural History in Detroit, Michigan, the USA, that, besides to store several rows of enormous teeth sawed of 20 cm. in length, can provide with accomodations in his open mouth to more than 8 people
 

One second cultural exhibition will be dedicated to the dinosaurs, and under epigraph "Desert of Mongolia" it will present the reconstruction of the skeletons of the Velociraptor and Protoceratops. Both animals lived in Mongolia (Asia) in the end of Cretaceous period, this is between 83 and 71 million years ago.  The replica of the Velociraptor skeleton, carnivore and fast predator, measures 2 meters in length and 1 of height. The Protoceratops was herbivore and had a pointed tip and a small necklace, and its weight reached 1.4 tons. Many skeletons of this dinosaur were collected during the American expedition in Mongolia in 1922. The replica of its skeleton measures 1,8 meters in length and 75 centimeters of height.

This cultural sample will be specially attractive as much by the spectacularity of the pieces as by its scientific interest, and it will be possible to be visited during every day of celebration of the show.

Parallel activities
 

Once again, Expominer already organizes traditional "Children and young Drawing Contest" whose subject will be "The fossils of life"". In this contest all the smaller fans of 14 years with residence in Catalonia will be able to participate. The winners will receive a diploma and a collection of minerals.

Expominer also organizes in this occasion a daily demonstration of geodes and three drawings: a geode is an upholstered cavity of substances crystallized, so that they leave a hollow inside the cavity, without getting to fill it completely. Usually they present a really aesthetic morphology. By this, many geodes have commercial value for the collecting or the decoration. The demonstrations will be carried out with the collaboration of the Lithos company and will consist of cutting some geodes to discover their attractive interior.
 

Like in each edition, the Expominer Show will welcome the visits of different schools from Catalonia, by means of which near 2,000 students will have the opportunity to extend his knowledge on fossils and minerals and to close by observe his great beauty and singularity. Each student will receive a memory mineral, and the Scholastic Center will participate in the drawing of a very special prize: a collection that reunites 25 more representative Earth minerals.

For the children this year Expominer will have an attractiveness more: an infantile championship of goldpanners, denominated "Gold Panning". Under the trusteeship of some monitors, the children will have auriferous sand and an avenue to practice the art of the pan and to recover gold particles up to 1 mm.

Also, the contest will offer documentary projections about fossils and minerals, whose objective is the one to approach childs to the fascinating world of stones.
 

Expominer in its 26 years of history has consolidated like the main contest of the sector in Spain and one of five more excellent of Europe, being the frame of samples, symposiums, drawings and exhibitions, and always maintaining the slopes commercial and cultural that have characterized it from the beginning. The great divulging work that Expominer has carried out, welcoming altogether in more than 67,000 students of the schools of Barcelona, is of great pedagogical value having contributed actively to the formation of youngest in the extraordinary world of fossils and minerals, promoting visits, aids of drawings and prizes. With this baggage and the objective to continue being a promotion and diffusion tool for its sector, the Expominer Show will open next November 12th the doors of his twentysixth show, in occasion of which it hopes to again attract a great number of experts as well as neophytes and fans of all the ages.

The Show will be open from 10,00 to 20.30 hours on November 12th and 13th, and from 10,00 to the 20,00 hours on day 14th. The price of the entrance will be of 5 euros, and 3 euros for the students of the schools.

Expominer is a Fira de Barcelona show, organizing fairs of industrial character and professional leader in Spain and one of the four first of Europe in number of events

Source: Press Department (Fira de Barcelona)

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