Marialite with Diopside, Fluorapatite

specimen number:
2062311

location:
Otter Lake, Quebec, Canada

description:
Large colorless terminated crystal of marialite hosting crystals of yellow green fluorapatite in dark green diopside. Nice combination piece collected in 1999.

The Otter Lake area, located within Huddersfield Township in the Pontiac region of Quebec, Canada, features complex geological skarn zones composed of recrystallized limestone and metamorphic rocks within the Precambrian Grenville Province. These geological units host distinct localized deposits containing phlogopite mica, fluorite, apatite, and radioactive uranothorite mineralization. Small-scale artisanal mining first began in 1906 and 1907 when the Calumet Mica Company extracted phlogopite mica and fluorite from a series of shallow pits. The deposit saw a brief revival from 1943 to 1944 when the Twin Valley Prospecting Syndicate conducted operations targeting industrial fluorite. The most extensive period of development occurred following the 1953 discovery of radioactive anomalies by J.M. Yates, which led to surface stripping, diamond drilling, and the driving of a 500-foot underground adit by Yates Uranium Mines between 1954 and 1955. Commercial exploration and active physical development on the property ceased by the late 1950s due to a sharp downturn in the global uranium market.

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