Spodumene

specimen number:
1052754

location:
Antsirabe, Ambanja, Diana, Madagascar

description:
An attractive double terminated loose gemmy pink crystal of spodumene, this is the variety often called kunzite. Brightly fluorescent orange under longwave ultraviolet light. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video. This label gives an original acquisition date in 1911.

The Antsirabe mining region, situated in the Vakinankaratra Region of the central highlands of Madagascar, is a historically significant district known for its diverse gemstone and rare-element pegmatite extractions. Geologically, the area is underlain by the Neoproterozoic-age basement rocks of the Mozambique Belt, which were intruded by highly fractionated granitic pegmatites during the pan-African orogeny. These pegmatite bodies underwent intense structural deformation and fluid-rock interaction, creating specialized internal zones rich in incompatible elements like boron, lithium, and beryllium, which precipitated minerals such as tourmaline, liddicoatite, spodumene, and beryl within smoky quartz and feldspar cavities. Historically, artisanal surface mining and open-cut quarrying began to expand significantly under French colonial rule in the early twentieth century, with formal geological mapping and systematic extraction establishing a production boom around 1905. Active extraction of industrial and gemstone minerals fluctuated under various corporate and state concessions throughout the mid-1900s, and while large-scale corporate quarrying transitioned to smaller entities after Madagascan independence in 1960, small-scale artisanal mining and structural alluvial panning continue to actively produce mineral specimens across the district through 2026.

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