Post-Sainte Marie 2023 Update

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TXR89AQ0: Complete doubly terminated floater crystal of Elbaite (variety rubellite), with very marked parallel growth and perfect terminations. Transparent, with good luster, intense pink tones and with coatings of leafy 'lepidolite' crystals and small crystallizations of Albite.
Pala, Pala District, San Diego County, California  USA

Specimen size: 4.5 × 1.3 × 1.2 cm = 1.77” × 0.51” × 0.47”

Main crystal size: 4.5 × 1 cm = 1.77” × 0.39”

NBC12AQ0: Group of very sharp Arsenopyrite crystals, lustrous, with coatings of lamellar Muscovite crystals and with small Quartz crystals.
Somewhat different from what has been known up to now from this locality, it comes from recent discoveries in new work faces. It is very good news that the La Parrilla mine, one of the largest classic Spanish deposits, is yielding collectible specimens again.
La Parrilla Claim (new cut), Santa Amalia, Don Benito-Almoharín, Comarca Vegas Altas, Cáceres, Extremadura  Spain (07/2022)

Specimen size: 2.1 × 1.9 × 1.3 cm = 0.83” × 0.75” × 0.51”

Main crystal size: 1.3 × 1.1 cm = 0.51” × 0.43”

NBY14AQ0: Group of very sharp Arsenopyrite crystals, lustrous, with coatings of lamellar Muscovite crystals.
Somewhat different from what has been known up to now from this locality, it comes from recent discoveries in new work faces. It is very good news that the La Parrilla mine, one of the largest classic Spanish deposits, is yielding collectible specimens again.
La Parrilla Claim (new cut), Santa Amalia, Don Benito-Almoharín, Comarca Vegas Altas, Cáceres, Extremadura  Spain (07/2022)

Specimen size: 2.8 × 2.3 × 1.9 cm = 1.10” × 0.91” × 0.75”

Main crystal size: 1.5 × 0.6 cm = 0.59” × 0.24”

NBT64AQ0: Group of very sharp Arsenopyrite crystals, lustrous, with coatings of lamellar Muscovite crystals.
Somewhat different from what has been known up to now from this locality, it comes from recent discoveries in new work faces. It is very good news that the La Parrilla mine, one of the largest classic Spanish deposits, is yielding collectible specimens again.
La Parrilla Claim (new cut), Santa Amalia, Don Benito-Almoharín, Comarca Vegas Altas, Cáceres, Extremadura  Spain (07/2022)

Specimen size: 3 × 2.7 × 1.1 cm = 1.18” × 1.06” × 0.43”

Main crystal size: 1.4 × 0.7 cm = 0.55” × 0.28”

NBR16AQ0: Group of very sharp Arsenopyrite crystals, lustrous, with coatings of lamellar Muscovite crystals and with small crystals of Quartz and Cassiterite.
Somewhat different from what has been known up to now from this locality, it comes from recent discoveries in new work faces. It is very good news that the La Parrilla mine, one of the largest classic Spanish deposits, is yielding collectible specimens again.
La Parrilla Claim (new cut), Santa Amalia, Don Benito-Almoharín, Comarca Vegas Altas, Cáceres, Extremadura  Spain (07/2022)

Specimen size: 3.4 × 2.6 × 1.9 cm = 1.34” × 1.02” × 0.75”

Main crystal size: 1.8 × 1.4 cm = 0.71” × 0.55”

NXM10AQ0: Very sharp floater crystal of Gypsum, doubly terminated and with an “arrow” habit. Completely transparent and very lustrous.
Segorbe, Comarca Alto Palancia, Castellón / Castelló, Valencian Community / Comunitat Valenciana  Spain

Specimen size: 4.5 × 2 × 1.4 cm = 1.77” × 0.79” × 0.55”

EFA14AQ0: Floater group of twinned Aragonite crystals, with a thick tabular habit, translucent, lustrous and purple.
A classic of Spanish mineralogy with higher quality than usual. Unlike most specimens from this find and previous finds, this specimen has not needed to be reinforced to prevent the crystals from separating from each other.
Keuper outcrop, Los Molinillos, Minglanilla, Comarca Manchuela Conquense, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha  Spain (12/2022)

Specimen size: 5.4 × 4 × 4 cm = 2.13” × 1.57” × 1.57”

Main crystal size: 3.5 × 2.9 cm = 1.38” × 1.14”

EFB14AQ0: Floater group of twinned Aragonite crystals, with a short prismatic habit, translucent, lustrous and purple. A classic of Spanish mineralogy with higher quality than usual.
Unlike most specimens from this find and previous finds, this specimen has not needed to be reinforced to prevent the crystals from separating from each other.
Keuper outcrop, Los Molinillos, Minglanilla, Comarca Manchuela Conquense, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha  Spain (12/2022)

Specimen size: 5.6 × 4.5 × 4.2 cm = 2.20” × 1.77” × 1.65”

Main crystal size: 4.7 × 3.9 cm = 1.85” × 1.54”

NCX13AQ0: Growth, on matrix, of very acute scalenohedral Calcite crystals, water-clear and with a second generation of less well defined crystals, smaller in size and yellowish in color.
Can Palomeres Mines, Malgrat de Mar, Comarca Maresme, Barcelona, Catalonia / Catalunya  Spain (2017)

Specimen size: 7.4 × 7.2 × 5.7 cm = 2.91” × 2.83” × 2.24”

Main crystal size: 1.5 × 0.6 cm = 0.59” × 0.24”

TFX13AQ0: Cubo-octahedral crystals of Galena, very sharp and on matrix, with Calcite, Dolomite and transparent orange crystals of Sphalerite.
The specimen comes from the Antonino Bueno collection, whose label we will send to the buyer.
Áliva Mine (Las Mánforas Mine), level 2, Áliva mining area, Camaleño, Comarca Liébana, Cantabria  Spain

Specimen size: 4.4 × 3.9 × 1.2 cm = 1.73” × 1.54” × 0.47”

Main crystal size: 0.8 × 0.5 cm = 0.31” × 0.20”

NBC96AQ0: Group of Sphalerite crystals with strange curvatures and deformations, between transparent and translucent, with brilliant luster and an intense and deep color, on a matrix of white rhombohedral Dolomite crystals with small coatings of Calcite.
The specimen comes from the Antonino Bueno collection, whose label we will send to the buyer.
Áliva Mine (Las Mánforas Mine), level 4, Áliva mining area, Camaleño, Comarca Liébana, Cantabria  Spain (2006)

Specimen size: 3.7 × 3 × 1.8 cm = 1.46” × 1.18” × 0.71”

Main crystal size: 2.2 × 1.8 cm = 0.87” × 0.71”

NFT89AQ0: Group, on matrix, of very sharp prismatic crystals of Pyromorphite that in some areas of the specimen form very close parallel aggregates and, in others, short hexagonal crystals with very deep hoppers.
This specimen, from one of the largest classical Spanish deposits, comes from the collection Ignacio Gaspar Sintes (number PiF-49), whose label we will send to the buyer.
El Horcajo Mines, El Horcajo, Almodóvar del Campo, Comarca Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha  Spain (±1910)

Specimen size: 4.3 × 3.5 × 3 cm = 1.69” × 1.38” × 1.18”

NFF89AQ0: A novelty for Spanish mineralogy (see: La extraordinaria paragénesis de minerales de mercurio de Usagre)
A group of Eglestonite crystals -an alteration mineral, product of other mercury minerals-, on matrix, green-colored and translucent. They are accompanied by small Calomel crystals with an adamantine luster and small drops of Mercury that hold together thanks to their high surface tension. The quality and color of this sample is exceptional, compared to other specimens from the same discovery. Both species of mercury halides have been analyzed and we will send a copy of the analysis to the buyer.
These minerals are photosensitive, easily blackening in sunlight and even in the light of a lamp, so we recommend keeping them out of the light.
This sample has been referenced and pictured, as a novelty in Sainte Marie 2023, in the magazine 'Le Règne Minéral' number 172, July-August 2023, page 23
Mariquita mining group, Cerro de las Minas, Usagre, Comarca Campiña Sur, Badajoz, Extremadura  Spain (2015)

Specimen size: 10.5 × 3.6 × 5 cm = 4.13” × 1.42” × 1.97”

TXJ87AQ0: Complete floater group of very sharp, acute rhombohedral Calcite crystals with sand inclusions.
A French classic of excellent quality.
Bellecroix, Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France  France

Specimen size: 6 × 4.7 × 4.1 cm = 2.36” × 1.85” × 1.61”

Main crystal size: 2 × 1.2 cm = 0.79” × 0.47”

TMY97AQ0: Group of cubo-octahedral Galena crystals with very sharp and elongated crystal forms, which gives them a falsely pyramidal habit. With brilliant luster, on a Chalcopyrite matrix.
Bou Nahas Mine, Oumjrane mining area, Alnif Commune, Tinghir Province, Drâa-Tafilalet Region  Morocco (2023)

Specimen size: 4.7 × 4.4 × 3.2 cm = 1.85” × 1.73” × 1.26”

Main crystal size: 2 × 1.2 cm = 0.79” × 0.47”

EBT66AQ0: Group of Calcite crystals with a very well defined pseudohexagonal outline, completely covered by a second generation of small crystals, also of Calcite, partially dissolved and with small Quartz crystals.
We have analyzed this type of specimens due to their genetic complexity and we will send a copy of the analysis to the buyer.
Jebel Masker, Imilchil area, Tounfit, Khénifra Province, Beni Mellal-Khenifra Region  Morocco (09-10/2021)

Specimen size: 10.5 × 10.3 × 6.2 cm = 4.13” × 4.06” × 2.44”

Main crystal size: 5.5 × 3.2 cm = 2.17” × 1.26”

EJE73AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 3.7 × 3.4 × 3 cm = 1.46” × 1.34” × 1.18”

Main crystal size: 0.8 × 0.6 cm = 0.31” × 0.24”

EJF73AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 5.5 × 4 × 3.7 cm = 2.17” × 1.57” × 1.46”

EJD51AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 5.9 × 3.7 × 4.1 cm = 2.32” × 1.46” × 1.61”

Main crystal size: 1 × 0.9 cm = 0.39” × 0.35”

EJK66AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 9 × 6.5 × 5.5 cm = 3.54” × 2.56” × 2.17”

Main crystal size: 0.8 × 0.6 cm = 0.31” × 0.24”

EJL93AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 9.8 × 7 × 5 cm = 3.86” × 2.76” × 1.97”

Main crystal size: 0.5 × 0.5 cm = 0.20” × 0.20”

EJA97AQ0: New at Sainte-Marie 2023
A specimen that represents, apart from its evident aesthetics and its world novelty, a complete treatise on mineralogy, starting with a cobalt-bearing Dolomite (which has since disappeared during the process), followed by successive substitutions in which more copper was added, leaving as a final result Kolwezite-Malachite in pseudomorphic shapes after crystals of the initial cobalt-bearing Dolomite, and greenish blue Chrysocolla pseudomorphs after Baryte, with a stage of Malachite growth, also pseudomorphic after Baryte.
The discovery of this morphological and chemical complexity will soon be reported more extensively in an upcoming article in the French magazine Le Règne Minéral.
Tenke-Fungurume area, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba)  Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (02-03/2023)

Specimen size: 9.2 × 7.3 × 5.5 cm = 3.62” × 2.87” × 2.17”

Main crystal size: 0.7 × 0..7 cm = 0.28” × 0.00”

TMB94AQ0: Twinned very sharp Chalcocite crystals, with very sharp terminations, between shiny and matte, on matrix, with small white Calcite crystals.
The specimen comes from the Ignacio Gaspar Sintes collection (number CAC-1) and was previously in that of Martín Oliete Fontela (number 157). We will send the buyer the labels from both collections.
Copiapó Province, Atacama Region  Chile

Specimen size: 8.4 × 6.7 × 3.7 cm = 3.31” × 2.64” × 1.46”

Main crystal size: 1.9 × 1.4 cm = 0.75” × 0.55”

TMX89AQ0: Trapezohedral crystals of Analcime with very sharp crystal forms, one of them clearly dominant, transparent, lustrous, on matrix and with small crystals of Fluorapophyllite-(K).
Fengjiashan Mine, Edong, Daye, Huangshi Prefecture, Hubei Province  China

Specimen size: 7.1 × 5 × 3.8 cm = 2.80” × 1.97” × 1.50”

Main crystal size: 1.9 × 1.8 cm = 0.75” × 0.71”

TFR69AQ0: Druse of Azurite crystals with sharp crystal forms of lenticular habit, with very good luster and very vivid color reminiscent of some specimens from Milpillas. In matrix, with Malachite growths.
Liufengshan Mine, Guichi District, Chizhou Prefecture, Anhui Province  China

Specimen size: 6.4 × 5.5 × 5.2 cm = 2.52” × 2.17” × 2.05”

Main crystal size: 0.9 × 0.7 cm = 0.35” × 0.28”

TTF89AQ0: The best known so far for the species. Imayoshiite occurs as crystals of very sharp tabular habit and hexagonal outline, transparent, very lustrous and colorless. On matrix, with leafy growths of Shinichengite (this new mineral species was initially labeled as possible Tobermorite-Clinotobermorite)
If you want to know more about the species and the paragenesis of the mine, you can consult the
article by Menor-Salván, C.; Ottens, B.; Richard, E. “Rare borate minerals from the
Shijiangshan-Shalonggou Deposits, Hexigten Banner, Inner Mongolia, China”. Rocks & Minerals. 96(5): (September/October 2021)
Shijiangshan Mine, Yinwu, Linxi, Ulanhad League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region  China (10/2021)

Specimen size: 5.3 × 3.6 × 1.9 cm = 2.09” × 1.42” × 0.75”

Main crystal size: 0.7 × 0.7 cm = 0.28” × 0.28”

EMA37AQ0: Twinned Sphalerite crystals with the dominant forms of the tetrahedron, translucent and of orange color, on matrix, with spheroidal aggregates of Pyrite crystals, groups of white Calcite crystals and small groups of Quartz crystals.
Huxu Mine, Dongxiang, Fuzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province  China (12/2021)

Specimen size: 12.5 × 10.3 × 6 cm = 4.92” × 4.06” × 2.36”

Main crystal size: 2.2 × 1.9 cm = 0.87” × 0.75”