Stibiotantalite
specimen number:
1052680
location:
Mesa Grande, San Diego Co., California, USA
description: The Mesa Grande district, located in the Peninsular Ranges of San Diego County, California, is a premier pegmatite province renowned for producing some of the world's finest stibiotantalite specimens. Geologically, the district features late-Cretaceous granitic pegmatite dikes, such as the famous Himalaya and San Diego dikes, which intruded into local gabbro and norite country rocks. These pegmatites are characterized by advanced geochemical fractionation, leading to the formation of lithium-rich pockets containing tourmaline, lepidolite, and rare oxides like stibiotantalite, which occurs as resinous, honey-yellow to dark-brown crystals often associated with cleavelandite and quartz. Historically, mining and quarrying in the district began in earnest around 1898 following the discovery of the Himalaya vein, with a major production boom occurring between 1902 and 1912 to supply the Chinese carvings market with pink tourmaline. Stibiotantalite was first identified in the district at the Himalaya Mine during this early period, marking its first documented occurrence in North America. While industrial-scale mining slowed after the collapse of the Chinese market, the district saw various revivals for specimen mining throughout the 20th century, particularly in the 1950s and during an intensive mechanized period from 1977 to 1998. The Mesa Grande district, located in the Peninsular Ranges of San Diego County, California, is a premier pegmatite province renowned for producing some of the world's finest stibiotantalite specimens. Geologically, the district features late-Cretaceous granitic pegmatite dikes, such as the famous Himalaya and San Diego dikes, which intruded into local gabbro and norite country rocks. These pegmatites are characterized by advanced geochemical fractionation, leading to the formation of lithium-rich pockets containing tourmaline, lepidolite, and rare oxides like stibiotantalite, which occurs as resinous, honey-yellow to dark-brown crystals often associated with cleavelandite and quartz. Historically, mining and quarrying in the district began in earnest around 1898 following the discovery of the Himalaya vein, with a major production boom occurring between 1902 and 1912 to supply the Chinese carvings market with pink tourmaline. Stibiotantalite was first identified in the district at the Himalaya Mine during this early period, marking its first documented occurrence in North America. While industrial-scale mining slowed after the collapse of the Chinese market, the district saw various revivals for specimen mining throughout the 20th century, particularly in the 1950s and during an intensive mechanized period from 1977 to 1998.
A mostly complete crystal of stibiotantalite stored in a cork stoppered antique vial. The specimen comes with an antique label as well as shown in the picture and video. Original acquisition date was 1907. The size provided is the size of the vial.
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