The information provided within this Forum about localities is only given to allow reference to them. Any visit to any of the localities requires you to obtain full permission and relevant information prior to your visit. FMF is strictly against any illicit activities related to collecting minerals.
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 18, 2016 14:10 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Chivor (#422)
The lighter crystal is heavily corroded but is water clear in comparison to the darker one standing next to it (also with etched faces).
Specimen has some remnants of the black shale host rock.
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 20, 2016 13:08 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Coscuez (#390)
Emerald crystals are formed in geological environments characterized by considerable mechanical stress. This specimen is a good illustration of these extreme conditions.
Matrix has clearly a brecciated aspect with the calcite acting as a cement.
On the other hand, the spectacular glowing effect of the emerald is due to the presence of numerous internal cracks and fissures which are reflecting light.
Host rock is black shale.
IMG_0650nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Coscuez mining district, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
70x65x43mm, xl=12mm
Description:
Viewed:
30204 Time(s)
IMG_0854nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Coscuez mining district, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
70x65x43mm, xl=12mm
Description:
Viewed:
30207 Time(s)
IMG_0829nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Coscuez mining district, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
70x65x43mm, xl=12mm
Description:
Viewed:
30210 Time(s)
IMG_0801nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Coscuez mining district, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
70x65x43mm, xl=12mm
Description:
Viewed:
30211 Time(s)
IMG_0814nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Coscuez mining district, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 21, 2016 16:24 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - La Pita (#325)
Another beryl specimen from Colombia - please bear with me.
I will find something else for my next post. Not necessarily better, but certainly different.
Host rock is black shale.
IMG_0924nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
38x63x65mm, xl=10mm
Description:
Viewed:
30131 Time(s)
IMG_0949nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
38x63x65mm, xl=10mm
Description:
Viewed:
30087 Time(s)
IMG_0930nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
38x63x65mm, xl=10mm
Description:
Viewed:
30070 Time(s)
IMG_0965nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
38x63x65mm, xl=10mm
Description:
Viewed:
30089 Time(s)
IMG_0981nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 22, 2016 12:40 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - NOT from Colombia (#8200)
It's not beryl, it's not green and it comes from the largest alkaline complex in the world, the Khibiny massif in Russia's Kola peninsula.
Association of Rastsvetaevite, Fenaksite, Delhayelite, Lamprophyllite, and Aegirine. Not sure if everybody is familiar with those minerals but I personally find e-m-e-r-a-l-d much easier to spell :-)
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 23, 2016 16:50 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Euclase in matrix (#6103)
From red to blue.
Euclase is an uncommon mineral but euclase in matrix from Gachalá is a rarity.
Euclase only comes from two localities in Colombia: La Marina in the Western Belt and Gachalá in the Eastern Belt.
In La Marina, euclase is typically associated with albite (and more rarely fluorapatite); In Gachalá, it's often associated with calcite and sometimes pyrite.
Crystals of this specimen display a pretty strong pleochroism from light greyish-blue to shades of deep blue.
Note the iridescence in some images.
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 26, 2016 15:17 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Chivor (#334)
These pencil-like pinacoidal terminations are typical from the El Acuario mine.
Crystals from that locality are a light green shade and virtually water-clear.
Host rock is grey shale.
IMG_1390nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Chivor mining district, El Acuario Mine, Municipio Chivor, Eastern Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
33x41x21mm, xl=8mm
Description:
Viewed:
29799 Time(s)
IMG_1416nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Chivor mining district, El Acuario Mine, Municipio Chivor, Eastern Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
33x41x21mm, xl=8mm
Description:
Viewed:
29823 Time(s)
IMG_1429nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Chivor mining district, El Acuario Mine, Municipio Chivor, Eastern Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
33x41x21mm, xl=8mm
Description:
Viewed:
29834 Time(s)
IMG_1451nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite, Pyrite
Locality:
Chivor mining district, El Acuario Mine, Municipio Chivor, Eastern Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Apr 29, 2016 08:01 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - La Pita (#329)
V and Cr which are the predominant chromophoric elements in Colombian beryls, are both extracted from the black shales by the circulating basinal fluids.
There have been a few studies comparing their respective contents and ratio in various localities but results are far from being satisfactory because of the scarcity of reliable samples. And just to make things even more difficult, the variation of vanadium and chromium contents can be pretty wide within the same beryl crystal!
However a few trends can be drawn. Emeralds from La Pita seem to have the highest V/Cr ratio of all the Colombian districts. This could explain the origin of the so-called “famous grass-green shade” which is used as a trademark slogan for the material extracted from La Pita. Grass-green is actually not the most common shade in La Pita but that’s a different story.
Although this specimen is indeed from La Pita, it’s far from showing any of the common shades of green found in that district.
It’s very pale green, even paler than the material from La Pava, west of Muzo.
Although the beryl crystals lack color, I find the contrast with the striated iridescent calcite quite striking.
Host rock is black shale.
IMG_1527nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
49x44x36mm, xls=6 & 4mm
Description:
Viewed:
29592 Time(s)
IMG_1544nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
49x44x36mm, xls=6 & 4mm
Description:
Viewed:
29579 Time(s)
IMG_1555nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
49x44x36mm, xls=6 & 4mm
Description:
Viewed:
29625 Time(s)
IMG_1605nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
49x44x36mm, xls=6 & 4mm
Description:
Viewed:
29556 Time(s)
IMG_1596nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
49x44x36mm, xls=6 & 4mm
Description:
Viewed:
29553 Time(s)
IMG_1624nb.JPG
Mineral:
Beryl (variety emerald), Calcite
Locality:
La Pita mining district, Municipio Maripí, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: May 18, 2016 14:18 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Chivor (#586)
Another Chivor crystal with a pencil-like termination - from a recent find.
These images do not do justice to this small crystal which literally glows even in poor lighting condition.
Grey dolomite rhombs, partly oxidized pyrite nodules, snowy white coarse-grained aggregate of albite. Host rock is black shale.
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: May 19, 2016 07:51 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde
Philippe Durand wrote:
Again a very nice crystal
trimed it will do a perfect thumbnail
Thanks Philippe!
I am always a bit reluctant to have my specimens trimmed.
It's all about the dichotomy of aesthetics versus science.
I see some advantages in preserving specimens with crystallized matrix e.g. wider coverage of associated minerals, better sense of the emerald occurrence at a small-scale level, better understanding of their distribution and density.
Trimming in the sense of releasing the crystals from the matrix is a different story.
Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately?) I don't own lot of specimens that fall in that category :-)
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: May 19, 2016 17:14 Post subject: Re: Collection of Fiebre Verde - Pauna (#8600)
I have a couple of specimens from a special ”mine” which was discovered during highway construction between Pauna and San Pablo de Borbur, back in October 2012.
A construction crew working on a steep mountain highway ran right into a huge vein of emeralds. Useless to say that when the discovery was made, the highway department stopped the construction.
The rumor of the existence of a new emerald producing open-pit mine spread very quickly and within 2 days, hundreds of persons flocked that area looking desperately for emeralds.
The story said that the three road workers who made the discovery got the first bite and sold their plunder at a good profit.
As for the name of this special mine, people still call it ”la Mina de la Carretera” - Highway Mine.
Considering the important number of specimens uncovered at that time, this find probably deserves a new entry in the locality list.
It’s located about 8km northeast from La Pita and 13km east of Coscuez which makes the Highway Mine difficult to attach to any existing emerald districts.
I suggest to have the following reference added in the locality database :
Mina de la Carretera (Highway Mine), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá
I drove through that section in October 2015 and there was no sign of any mining activity (and no, the road was not paved with emeralds).
All the samples I have from this locality except one contain green beryl which is easily identifiable.
When looking parallel to the bulk growth direction, honeycomb structure is what comes to mind.
When looking perpendicular to the growth direction, the mineral displays clearly a columnar habit.
Could that possibly be fuchsite - a chromian muscovite? In Sinkankas’ bible “Emerald and other Beryls”, fuchsite is mentioned as an associated mineral variety in the Muzo mineralogy section.
I am not familiar at all with this mineral variety. Do you have any suggestion on what this could be outside fuchsite? Maybe I should have posted this in the What is it thread first…
Gérard
PS : Don’t expect too much from these exotic mining techniques unless you live in Boyaca, Colombia.
The video is in Spanish but it is easy to figure it out.
IMG_1984nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28820 Time(s)
IMG_1988nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28782 Time(s)
IMG_1991nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28793 Time(s)
IMG_1999nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28834 Time(s)
IMG_2002nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28811 Time(s)
IMG_2011nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
55x32x11mm
Description:
Viewed:
28796 Time(s)
IMG_2019nb.JPG
Mineral:
Muscovite (variety fuchsite), Pyrite
Locality:
Highway Pauna-San Pablo de Borbur road works ("Highway Mine"), Municipio Pauna, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum