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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Feb 26, 2018 15:16 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Hi
Here are some extremely rare minerals.
The first is kolbeckite, scandium phosphate.
Scandium and yttrium are considered rare-earth elements because they tend to occur often in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties.
Mineral: | Kobelckite |
Locality: | Shinkolobwe, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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12294 Time(s) |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Feb 26, 2018 15:42 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Hi,
Gauthierite is a very rare complex oxide of uranyl, potassium and lead.
It was dedicated to Gilbert Gauthier (geological engineer - 1924-2006).
Mineral: | Gauthierite |
Locality: | Shinkolobwe, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Gauthierite |
Locality: | Shinkolobwe, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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12261 Time(s) |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Feb 26, 2018 16:48 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Gilbert Gauthier (1924-2006)
Gilbert Gauthier was graduated as a mining engineer from the University of Liège. He received the teaching of Jacques THOREAU (1886 - 1971) and Henri BUTTGENBACH (1874 - 1964) in particular. After a short period spent at the University of Liège as an assistant, he was hired by the Upper Katanga Mining Union (UMHK), which exploited the rich copper and cobalt deposits of this Katangan province (Belgian Congo). He worked at Shinkolobwe under the direction of Johannes VAES (1902 - 1978).
His passion for minerals remained intact. The UMHK was also indirectly interested because it offered as a farewell gift a box of luxury wood filled with the main minerals of the various sites of the Company. Gilbert Gauthier himself collected, well before others, these remarkable specimens. He initiated great collectors such as the late Dr. Joseph LHOEST (UMHK med. doctor). He guided many colonial enthusiasts to Katanga in their first steps, teaching them and showing them the dumps and various Katangese sites to visit. No doubt he was at the base of the craze of Belgian collectors for Katangan mineralogy. Subsequently, following the political evolution of the Congo and the UMHK, he became a drilling consultant for the oil industry in Central Africa. He settled in the Paris region.
Mineral: | Gilbert Gauthier |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Feb 27, 2018 00:55 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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ROUBAULTITE
Splendid crystals of roubaultite, a very rare oxide hydroxycarbonate of uranyl and copper.
Mineral: | Roubaultite |
Locality: | Kamoto, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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KOV = Kamoto East,Oliveira, Virgule open pit |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Mar 27, 2018 15:30 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Hi,
Some cuprites from Katanga.
Mineral: | Cuprite |
Locality: | Mashamba West Mine, Kolwezi District, Lualaba, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Cuprite with Cuprite (variety chalcotrichite) |
Locality: | Likasi Mine (Panda Mine), Likasi, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Massive cuprite with chalcotrichite, a variety of cuprite. |
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11918 Time(s) |
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Mineral: | Cuprite (variety chalcotrichite) |
Locality: | Likasi Mine (Panda Mine), Likasi, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Apr 20, 2018 06:44 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Cornetite really exceptional.
The present day is favorable to inheritance transmissions.
Indeed, if the children of the pioneers jealously guarded the mining treasures of their parents, the grandchildren (and a fortiori the great grandchildren) who did not know the Belgian period in the Congo before 1960 do not know what to do with these objects with nostalgic scent. At the limit, they prefer to keep a lion carved in massive malachite or simply money ...
Here is a cornetite that the current Belgian specialists never seen. His analysis was of course confirmed by Professor Dr. F. Hatert. This specimen comes from the Etoile Mine (Lubumbashi, Katanga), presumably during the stripping of the mine.
Mineral: | Cornetite |
Locality: | L'Etoile du Congo Mine (Star of the Congo Mine), Lubumbashi (Elizabethville), Katanga Copper Crescent, Haut-Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Jul 28, 2018 09:52 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Swamboite-(Nd)
Nd0.333[(UO2)(SiO3OH)](H2O)∼2.5
Swamboite-(Nd) is the third compound of Nd-U discovered.
The structure is based upon uranyl-silicate sheets of uranophane topology alternating with an interlayer of partly occupied Nd3+ sites and H2O molecules.
Photos of needle fragments seem to show a perfect cleavage like uranophane according to {100}. I did not see this cleavage mentioned in the literature. There may be an ending on a specimen.
Mineral: | Samboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Swamboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Soddyite |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Swamboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Swamboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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Mineral: | Swamboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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with perfect cleavage on {100} |
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10511 Time(s) |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1175
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Posted: Jul 29, 2018 13:52 Post subject: Re: Minerals of DR Congo, Katanga. |
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Hi,
Never seen, I think! A single crystal with its apex of swamboite-(Nd).
Parallel growth.
There is also a conchoidal break. Red spots are curite.
Picture taken in reflection and XPol.
Mineral: | Swamboite-(Nd) |
Locality: | Swambo Hill (Swambo Mine), Swambo, Kambove District, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) | |
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10470 Time(s) |
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