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Jordi Fabre

Barcelona 11/05/2016

Here I am with a short summary of what have been my feelings in Munich 2016 and the new discoveries I've seen there.

The main novelty this year has certainly not been mineralogical but has been the total remodeling of the Hall A6, the "senior" Fair Pavilion, where are the best displays and the best specimens. It was as if an atomic bomb fell in the middle of the Hall and the center of the explosion (the "International Mineral Pavilion" and its surroundings) had remained more or less unscathed but all the rest had been sent violently outward. We'll see if this huge change will remain in the future but this year there were unhappy people, much confusion and, in the opinion of some, also a lower volume of business due to the loss of references. True or not, I also had great difficulty in finding people who I wanted to contact even after several days at the Show, so it's easy to assume that is what may have happened to those who were there only a day or two.
As said, we will see what happens next year… In my opinion the original idea of connect the main Show's Exhibits with the stands of the most spectacular specimens is not bad but the change this year has been so brutal that I would say that everything has creaked a little bit.

Let's go to what I have seen mineralogical. As announced, the real new discoveries have been very few, but something new always appears... Apart from the already mentioned Brochantites with or without Chrysocolla and with or without the Atacamite from the Los Azules Mine, Chile, in Morocco Imilchil remains generous and there have been many and varied things found there, highlighted by new spherical Malachite on Chrysocolla, very curious (assuming they really are from Imilchil). Bou Nahas remains prolific and produces among many other things some very nice lemon-yellow Barite with very thick crystals, and also highlighted was the presence for the first time (to my knowledge) of crystallized Cuprites from there. Bouismas and Tamdrost still are giving generously good Silvers and Proustites and Chebka Sidi Said (Aouli) has given very good yellow Fluorite on reddish Quartz and unlike the usual, in large pieces.

An exciting novelty was the presentation of Machinga, a locality in Malawi that although vaguely known in the past, now is being exploited again and giving (for now) excellent Niobophyllites and Eudidymites with thick, well-formed crystals between translucent and transparent. We'll see what will happen in the future but if all goes well it could be a new Mount Malosa.

I would also highlight the recent appearance in the classic Naipa mine, Mozambique, multicolored tourmalines very similar to those of the Santa Rosa mine in Brazil and the reappearance there of world class Stibiotantalites. Also I would like point out the continued presence of very aesthetic Pyrites from the "Atahualpa" level in the Huanzalá mine, Peru. They would surely be the most beautiful in the world if it were not the large amount of damage on the edges of the crystals that occur during the extraction of these specimens...

I had seen not much more to be admitted as "new" but as usual in this mega-show there were a multitude of interesting and/or extraordinary specimens, as well as the best "classics" you can imagine, especially from the European continent.

PS: thanks to John White for his help to make this text more comprehensible.

minsur · Joined: 03 Feb 2015 Posts: 45

Buenas noches Fiebre Verde
At least it is a eye-catching fake;-) In my opinion, specimens like this usually do not even need closer inspection, as they are by far much too "beautiful" to be the real thing. The layout of the hole thing so to speak just does not look natural.

By the way, I was truly amazed how many HIGHLY suspicous looking Emerald specimens were to be spotted, even in the Pavilon-zone with all the prestigious "Natural Art Dealers!"
I saw just one there marked as "repaired" (although an outright and plain glue job), but at least that.
Sometimes I am really wondering whether they do not know better or what happens there so far

Philip Mostmans · Joined: 08 Nov 2011 Posts: 43 Location: Mechelen

I wonder if anyone who went to Munich show has any news of a new find of fluorite from Huanggang mine? Specimens I've seen are on bladed calcite. The fluorite crystals are green, purple zoned with trisoctahedral crystals.

Also heard rumours that production in the mines is put on hold for the immediate future? Any confirmation on that?