Serandite

specimen number:
8311515

location:
Poudrette Quarry, Mt. St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada

description:
Fine loose crystal grouping of light pink serandite. In good condition. Nice thumbnail for the species.

The Mont Saint-Hilaire complex, situated in the Monteregie region of southern Quebec, Canada, is an internationally celebrated quarrying operation globally renowned for producing over 430 distinct mineral species and an array of rare-element crystals like serandite, catapleiite, and leifite. Geologically, this site is a classic example of a Mesozoic-age alkaline intrusive complex, part of the Monteregian Hills petrographic province, formed during the Cretaceous period around 124 million years ago when multiple pulses of alkaline magma intruded into Paleozoic sedimentary host rocks. The complex is divided into three distinct structural units, with the easternmost agpaitic nepheline syenites and pegmatite dikes creating highly peralkaline environments where extreme volatile and rare-element enrichment produced an astonishing variety of rare silicates and carbonates inside cavernous miarolitic cavities and xenoliths. Historically, modern industrial-scale quarrying for crushed stone, aggregate, and hornfels hornstone began in 1959 under Uni-Mix and was later operated by De-Mix, which eventually became part of the multi-national corporate entity Paving Stone Company (Carriere Mont Saint-Hilaire) in the late twentieth century. This active quarrying continuously exposed fresh, mineral-rich pegmatites and pockets, allowing local and international collectors access to extract world-class mineral specimens under organized safety protocols for decades. Through 2026, while commercial quarrying operations for construction aggregate continue under strict environmental regulations, access for mineral collecting has become highly restricted, leaving the site as a premier international mineralogical benchmark and type locality for studying extreme alkaline igneous fractionation.

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