Pollucite

specimen number:
2282006

location:
Mt. Mica, Oxford, Maine, USA

description:
Rich glassy colorless masses of pollucite throughout matrix.

The Mount Mica quarry, located near Paris in Oxford County, Maine, is a highly historic pegmatite deposit that represents the birthplace of commercial gemstone mining in the United States. Geologically, it is a classic, complexly zoned granitic pegmatite body of late Paleozoic age that intruded local metamorphic schists. The pegmatite features highly evolved core zones containing open cavities or pockets lined with world-class elbaite tourmaline, beryl, and quartz crystals, along with lithium-bearing mineral species. Discovered in 1820 by Elijah Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes, systematic quarrying began in the 1820s and has continued intermittently for over two centuries under various operators, including the famous Maine Tourmaline Company in the early twentieth century and modern specimen miners. Mining operations evolved from historic open pits into modern underground tunneling to follow the dipping gemstone-bearing pocket lines, with activity extending right through to the present day.

Pollucite is a cesium sodium aluminosilicate mineral that crystallizes in the isometric system, serving as the primary industrial ore of cesium. Geologically, it occurs almost exclusively in highly differentiated, lithium-rich granitic pegmatites, where it forms during late-stage magmatic crystallization within the core zones alongside minerals like lepidolite, petalite, and spodumene. The mineral typically forms massive, fine-grained aggregates or uncommon, etched cubic crystals that are colorless, white, or light gray, displaying a vitreous to greasy luster that closely mimics the appearance of quartz. Because of its high cesium content, pollucite is a critical resource for producing cesium compounds used in specialized applications such as drilling fluids for the oil industry, atomic clocks, and advanced electronic technologies.

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