FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[marco campos-venuti]

We all have drawers full of samples that we don't know what they are. Some day I wake up a little bit Poirot and I start investigating one of those samples, but since I can't solve the mystery, I propose it to you.
It is a sample that I purchased at La Union Mineral Show (Spain) in 2006 for 5 euros and without any label, in a 4x4 box. It is a clear fluorite crystal, twinned according to the spinel law.
The clues I can give you are:
1) on the back there are some hematite crystals attached, some of which are also included in the fluorite, so it seems clear that the now loose crystal originally rested on a layer of crystallized specularitic hematite.
2) the fluorite fluoresces pink at shortwaves UV.
Do you have any suggestions?

[Jordi Fabre]

Very difficult, Marco. Its association with that 'kind-of-alpine' Hematite, rules out several possible origins, and the date and place where you bought it practically rule out Huanggang.
Let's hope for the best, but perhaps we won't be able to identify the locality in this case...

[Josele]

Just commenting that the only fluorite fluorescing red that I remember is Mexican.