Muscovite with Albite

specimen number:
9892091

location:
Galileia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

description:
Large sharp crystal groupings of muscovite measuring to 6.5 cm in size across the top of a bladed white albite crystal matrix. This is in good condition and quite choice for the species. Crystallized all around with no points of attachment.

Galileia, located in the eastern portion of Minas Gerais, Brazil, within the Doce River valley, is a prominent gem-producing municipality whose commercial mining history began in earnest during the mid-twentieth century (around the 1940s) and remains active today through various small-scale and commercial workings. Geologically, the area is situated within the Aracuai orogenic belt, where complex Precambrian lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) granitic pegmatites have intruded the regional metamorphic basement. These zoned pegmatite bodies, formed during the late Brasiliano orogeny roughly 500 to 600 million years ago, feature volatile-rich core zones that have yielded world-class deposits of gem-quality elbaite tourmaline (including exceptional rubellite and bi-color specimens), alongside associated minerals such as lepidolite, cleavelandite, and quartz.

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