Elbaite (1.3g)

specimen number:
1712712

location:
Coronel Murta, Minas Gerais, Brazil

description:
A showing gemmy mostly purplish red terminated crystal of elbaite. In great condition. This weighs 1.3 g.

The Coronel Murta municipality, located in the lower Jequitinhonha Valley within the northeastern region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, represents one of the most prolific and historically significant pegmatite districts in the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province. Geologically, this extensive district is anchored by a vast swarm of highly differentiated, complexly zoned granitic pegmatites of Neoproterozoic age that intruded into ancient quartz-mica schists of the Macaubas Group. The advanced fractional crystallization of these volatile-rich magmas led to the development of extraordinary pocket zones rich in incompatible elements, yielding world-class crystals of multicolored tourmaline, exceptional blue aquamarine, deep pink morganite, topaz, chrysoberyl, and spectacular clusters of cleavelandite and lepidolite. Historically, artisanal exploration of the region began in the early twentieth century as early prospectors searched the gravels of the Jequitinhonha River, but systematic underground and surface mining via independent, small-scale operations known as garimpos expanded dramatically during the 1940s to supply strategic minerals during World War II. The district achieved its golden era of specimen production between the 1970s and 1990s, fueled by the discovery of legendary gem-bearing pockets at historic deposits like the Barra do Salinas, Pias, and Urubu mines, which established the town of Coronel Murta as a primary global trading hub for fine pegmatite minerals. Through 2026, while large-scale open-cast operations for industrial feldspar have emerged and many older, shallow tunnels are exhausted, active manual garimpo mining continues throughout the rugged municipality, ensuring that new discoveries of exceptional gemstones continue to serve as vital academic benchmarks for studying granitic pegmatite evolution.

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