Elbaite

specimen number:
8911031

location:
Virgem da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

description:
A beautiful gem crystal, this mostly a bluish green throughout, with red terminations. Lustrous and gem quality, in terrific condition all around. This is double terminated. The crystal weighs 12.93 g.

Located in the Jequitinhonha Valley of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Virgem da Lapa is a world-famous pegmatite district celebrated for its extraordinary complex granitic pegmatites that intruded into Precambrian metamorphic rocks. Mined heavily since the mid-twentieth century by local miners known as garimpeiros, the pegmatites of the area, including famous deposits like the Laranjeiras and Belmont mines, are renowned for producing massive crystals and gem-pockets. Mineral collectors highly prize Virgem da Lapa for yielding some of the finest known specimens of gemmy blue aquamarine, intense green tourmaline, topaz, albite, and large crystals of dark smoky quartz, making it an iconic Brazilian locality in the international specimen trade.

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