Type Locality

0835 Kunatite, Turquoise/Chalcosiderite, Torbernite, Albite, Lake Boga granite quarry, Lake Boga, Swan Hill Rural City, Victoria

Greenish-yellow balls of kunatite (previously Unknown Cu Fe Phosphate), with blue-green balls of turquoise/chalcosiderite, a square-shaped torbernite crystal, and some unidentified darker green balls (pseudomalachite?), all on albite, orthoclase and smoky quartz. Collected by John Carey who also gave specimens to Museum Victoria so that they could describe it as...

ncat AA5 Alfredopetrovite, Ahlfeldite, Penroseite, Chalcomenite, Felsőbányaite, El Dragón mine, Porco Municipality, Antonio Quijarro Province, Potosí, Bolivia

Type Locality for alfredopetrovite. White balls with a greenish-grey tint of alfredopetrovite, minor pink Co-bearing ahlfeldite, minor light blue chalcomenite(?), minor silver penroseite, white patches of felsőbányaite, and thin colourless blades and colourless blocky crystals of unidentified species. Width of view 6mm. Stack of 45 images. Click on the image...

4511 Nimite, Népouite, Bon Accord Ni deposit, Barberton, Mbombela Local Municipality, Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Nimite (Type Locality) is a chlorite group mineral (yellowish-green but can be stained by iron oxides), whilst népouite (bluish-green) is a serpentine group mineral. Ex Jim Ferraiolo. Width of view 6mm. Stack of 40 images. The original description of nimite refers to the locality as being two miles west of...

3539 Ancylite-(Ce), Albite, Aegirine, Burbankite, Poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada

Colourless to greyish, and pinky-orange crystals of ancylite-(Ce), or possibly calcioancylite in small cavities in albite. In the second photo, white (probable) calcioburbankite (Type Locality). You can see the hexagonal cross section if you look closely. The label said burbankite. Width of view 3mm and stack of 50 images (ancylite)...

ncat JR3 Benitoite, Neptunite, California State Gem Mine, Santa Rita Peak, San Benito County, California, USA

Two joined benitoite crystals (I hesitate to say twinned as I don’t know what sorts of twins can occur), shown in normal, longwave ultraviolet (red), and shortwave ultraviolet (blue). It is really interesting how different the surface textures look under each light source. Width of view 14.5mm. Click on the...

3514 Cobaltkoritnigite, Erythrite, Weilite, Hörnesite, Picropharmacolite, Sainfeldite, Ore dumps, Richelsdorf Smelter, Süß, Nentershausen, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Kassel Region, Hesse, Germany

Purple cobaltkoritnigite, pink erythrite balls, thin bladed prismatic silky white hörnesite, pale pink sainfeldite, white weilite, and silky white sprays of picropharmacolite. Type Locality for picropharmacolite. Width of view 7.75mm. Stack of 36 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.

ncat JP3295 Peisleyite, Fluorwavellite, Tom’s Quarry, Kapunda, North Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia

Massive white peisleyite finely intergrown on a μm scale with fluorwavellite. SEM shows that ‘massive peisleyite’ consists of zones of intergrown peisleyite crystals (<3 μm in size) forming mats intermixed with zones of massive ‘wavellite’ (now considered fluorwavellite) with no distinct crystal faces. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view...

ncat ANK MSH1 Ferrokentbrooksite, Poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada

Small orange crystals. Originally labelled as kentbrooksite, but probably ferrokentbrooksite and most likely collected before that mineral was described as a new species. Ex Noel and Ann Kennon Collection. Ex Jean P Beckerich. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 42 images. Type Locality. Click on the image below for a...

5754 Biraite-(Ce), Hydroxylbastnasite-(Ce), Strontianite, Aragonite, Calcite, Cordylite-(Ce), Cordylite-(La), Niobochevkinite-(Ce), Ferriallanite-(Ce), Talc, Thorite, Daqingshanite-(Ce), Daqingshanite-(La), Ancylite-(Ce), Ancylite-(La), Kukharenkoite-(Ce), Carbocernaite, Cordilitovaya carbonatite vein, Ust’-Biraya deposit, Vitim Plateau, Eastern Siberia, Russia

Extremely rich 8x7x2mm specimen containing abundant inclusions (red arrowed) of brown biraite-(Ce) – an extremely rare silico-carbonate of REE. Biraite contains microscopic inclusions of hydroxylbastnasite-(Ce) and intergrows with its more yellow macro grains well recognisable under magnification (yellow arrowed). Light matrix of the sample represented by pale-greenish, apatite-like strontianite-aragonite with...