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[Joan Rosell]

Massabé Quarry (Can Massabé; Mas Ceber), Sils, La Selva, Girona, Catalonia, Spain
41º48,00.27"N
02º42'52.27"E

In recent times, very interesting smoky quartz and amethyst crystals have been found close to Girona (Catalonia, Spain). This area is well-known to the Catalan collectors since several years ago but, due to the new works to build the Barcelona-French frontier railroad, some new pegmatitic cavities have been providing the best specimens on amethyst, smoky quartz and orthoclase ever seen.

Also the orthoclase crystals are really interesting from their crystallography, which is why Carles Curto, curator of the Barcelona Natural History Museum, is working to describe them.

Three years ago some local collectors were taking a look in the Massabé Quarry, close to Sils, and they found nice crystals, collecting on the new working quarry walls. 500 m to the north they visited a new quarry opened by the railroad company. They found there fine smoky quartz and amethyst specimens, as you can see in the attached pictures. During the several months they were visiting the quarry they collected the biggest quantity we could remember.

Nowadays you can find some samples but you must to work hard.

Bibliography: Mineral Up, Vol. I, Nr. 3 (2007)
http://www.mineralup.com
Photograph: Joaquim Callén, Joan Rosell, David Soler and Fabre Minerals

[chris]

Hello Joan,

Very nice. The amethyst scepter on top of the smoky is great. You can thank the railroad company for the opening of new cavities :-). Hope to see other pictures from time to time.

Christophe

[John S. White]

Indeed the amethyst scepter is wonderful, but I am more taken by the smoky quartz growing epitaxially on feldspar, one of the best examples I have seen of this phenomenon.

[Carles Curto]

And, what about so neat Baveno and Manebach twins? Nice.


John S. White wrote:
______________________________________________________________________

> Indeed the amethyst scepter is wonderful, but I am more taken by the smoky
> quartz growing epitaxially on feldspar, one of the best examples I have
> seen of this phenomenon.
______________________________________________________________________

[Joan Rosell]

Herewith attached you could find a very nice photo from the Massabé quarry. The author, David Soler, is going to publish some more photos and comments.
He knows very well the area.

[Sergio]

Here are some pictures about Massabe Quarry. The quarry's photos are from 2005 (I forgot where are other recent photos I've taken there) I don't know how works this of uploading photos, so sorry if I do something wrong or strange... :)

P.S.: sorry for my poor english!

[davidsoler]

Dear all,

I am glad to join the forum. Here are some photographs of the Massabé quarry and the railroad workings in 2006. In a next message I will attach some mineral pics.

The Massabé quarry has been worked for about a decade and now, as far as I know, is near the end of the activity. Only the nearby workings for the high velocity train from Barcelona to the French border have perhaps extended the life of the site. It has become a first order locality in Catalonia because of the extreme high quality of quartz, feldspars and related species, as Joan has excellently illustrated. Thanks to the easy access and relative permisivity of the quarry management, many local collectors have been visiting the area regularly. Furthermore, some workers of the blasting companies who are aware of its mineral richness have been being the first persons to "collect" specimens after the blastings. As a result, some private collections could be rated amongst the best in Europe regarding variety and mineralogical interest of the pieces of amethyst, smoky quartz, orthoclase, albite, muscovite and so on (mine is not!). The more spectacular pieces are, of course, those of bigger sizes - I have seen a perfect half a meter smoky quartz crystal in a private collector. Nevertheless, for those who also apreciate beauty in small samples, some thumbnail pieces are noteworthy.
The future of the locality is uncertain. The outcrops opened by the railroad workings will soon be covered, and perhaps the quarry will cease activity in a few years. So keep your samples carefully!

David

[Jordi Fabre]

Lovely photos and very fine explanations David. Thanks to participate on this forum!

Jordi

[davidsoler]

Thank you Jordi.

Here are two pics of thumbnail pieces that corroborate the mineralogical interest of the finds at Massabé Quarry.

David

[Jordi Fabre]

A recent view of the Massabé Quarry: