Calcite

specimen number:
2062588

location:
Madawaska Mine, Faraday, Hastings Co., Ontario, Canada

description:
A loose gem cleavage rhombohedron of calcite. The faces are very glassy, this has attractive inclusions throughout. This is classic material for the species and locality. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The Madawaska Mine, originally and alternately known as the Faraday Mine, was discovered and staked in 1949, with initial underground development beginning in 1954. It operated under Faraday Uranium Mines Limited from 1957 until June 1964, when low market demand forced its closure. Mining operations resumed under Madawaska Mines Limited in 1976 to satisfy new contracts, but the site permanently ceased production and closed on July 12, 1982, due to contract cancellations. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the Grenville Province of the Canadian Shield. The ore bodies occur primarily as complex pegmatite and granite sheet intrusions hosted within metasedimentary rocks, including paragneiss, amphibolite, and marble of the Hastings Highland gneiss complex. The mineralization is characterized by uraninite and uranophane along with various accessory minerals distributed irregularly throughout the intrusive bodies.

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