Celestine

specimen number:
9892024

location:
Sakoany, Katsepy, Mitsinjo, Boeny, Madagascar

description:
A cluster of glassy gemmy blue Celestine crystals, the largest measuring to 2.0 cm in size. This is in good condition all around with very minimal cleaving present. There is no matrix.

The Sakoany deposit in the Katsepy commune of the Mitsinjo District (Boeny Region, Madagascar) is an artisanal mining area world-famous for producing exceptional museum-quality celestine crystals. Discovered by a local herder and opened for systematic extraction in 1967, the site is not a conventional structured underground mine but rather a vast field of shallow hand-dug pits that remains active today with no official closure. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within a Lower Paleocene sedimentary sequence consisting of marly and sandy layers resting on fossiliferous limestones, where strontium-rich solutions precipitated outstanding blue celestine geodes.

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