Elbaite

specimen number:
1712715

location:
Coronel Murta, Minas Gerais, Brazil

description:
An attractive gemmy crystal of elbaite. In great condition. This weighs 0.87 g.

The Coronel Murta municipality, located along the Jequitinhonha River valley in northeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil, is a prolific mineral locality famous for producing exceptional tourmaline, beryl (including morganite and aquamarine), topaz, and hydroxylherderite specimens. Geologically, the region lies within the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province, where numerous Neoproterozoic-aged, highly fractionated granitic pegmatites intrude into regional biotite schists and quartzites. Slow cooling of these volatile-rich residual magmas facilitated the growth of large, well-zoned pocket gem minerals, often associated with albite, lepidolite, and quartz crystals. Small-scale artisanal mining, known locally as garimpo mining, began in the region during the mid-twentieth century and expanded rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s as mechanized exploration uncovered world-class pockets at specific deposits like the Barra de Salinas and Pitorra mines. While large corporate ventures have occasionally intervened, the area remains actively worked by independent garimpeiros through a complex network of underground shafts and open trenches that continue to supply the international specimen market into the 2020s.

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