FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[alfredo]

Do any of our esteemed members know anything about this alleged vivianite and ludlamite locality in the northern Amazon? Some of the material is truly wonderful: https://www.mindat.org/loc-263111.html

The Coordinates given on Mindat are rather vague, and satellite imagery show no significant diggings in the area, just a flat landscape of dense jungle for many km around. Perhaps from some eroded hillsides far to the South? There is no road network in the region, so any rocks taken out would need a long trip in small boats. And even though the material has been on the market for 8 years already, I haven't seen any photos of the locality. It's a bit mysterious.

I'd been wondering whether the material might even have come from a little bit further north, in Venezuela, and then been smuggled into Brazil and rebaptized with a Brazilian name. During periods when Brazil restricted the import of rough stones from abroad, to protect local producers, that kind of "unofficial" import to Brazil, with spurious new Brazilian locality name, was not unheard of. It happened for example with ametrine and optical calcite from Bolivia, which were taken to Brazil and resold on to the USA as "Brazilian" material.

My suspicions were reawakened this month when JTI in Tucson received a big shipment of this vivianite and ludlamite on their characteristic pisolitic limonite matrix, not from Brazil but from a small mineral dealer in Bolivia! How would this material get from the northern Amazon to southwestern Bolivia? There is no highway connection. It would be faster and cheaper to ship from the northern Amazon to Miami than to Bolivia! Why send it to a poor country like Bolivia for onward export to the USA?

Possibly these nicely crystallized phosphates really do come from the area specified on Mindat, but it would be nice to have confirmation, and more info on the locality, and some locality photos. There are some annoying loose ends that don't add up, if you'll pardon my colloquialisms.

[Anísio Cláudio]

Good morning,

The mine is located in Brazil, in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira and nearby. We recently received 16 kg of Vivianites and Luddlamites from there. The mining seems to be done in a very artisanal way. The piece in my hands came from there.

Anísio Cláudio

[Jordi Fabre]

[Anísio Cláudio]

Here in Brazil, everything is more complicated. The IRS requires codes for export. In the case of exchanging collection samples, there is a specific code. For sale I do not know how it works. Perhaps by issuing a separate invoice.

Aqui no Brasil é tudo mais complicado. A receita federal exige códigos para exportação. No caso de intercâmbio de amostras de coleção, há um código específico. Para venda eu não sei como funciona. Talvez através de emissão de nota fiscal avulsa.

Anísio

[Manuel Mesa]

Brazilian friends have told me that at the moment it is not known exactly where these phosphates come from. But the name Cabeça do Cachorro (dog's head) is an invented name that refers to the shape of the region in which they come out. In the attached photo you can see how the shape of the region looks like the head of a dog.

Manuel Mesa

[Jordi Fabre]

[Anísio Cláudio]

Hi, everybody,

These minerals are very abundant in the region. The hot and humid climate accelerates the lateritization processes.

Anísio

[James Catmur]

At the mineral show in Madrid last weekend a locality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira was on some specimens

[Anísio Cláudio]

Greetings. These minerals are removed irregularly, as far as I know.

Anísio

[Firmo Espinar]

An inspiring example seen in Madrid last weekend.

[alfredo]

This 40 cm (16 inches) piece was my favorite among the 90 Kg lot I saw. Vivianite from a cavity in pisolitic limonite.

[Tobi]

I'm actually not that much into vivianite - but these specimens are incredibly beautiful and impressive!