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Article: Famous mineral localities: The Sapo mine Ferruginha district, Conselheiro Pena Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- Article from:
- The Mineralogical Record
- Article date:
- July 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Mineralogical, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Sapo mine exploits a thick sub-horizontal pegmatite that was discovered in 1985 and has produced large pockets of quartz crystals, several important pockets of tourmaline and, recently, two large cavities containing excellent crystals of apatite-(CaOH) and a very important find of apatite-(CaF).
INTRODUCTION
Visitors to major mineral shows late in 2005 were intrigued by unusual-looking "apatite" specimens recently found at Brazil's Sapo mine, near Goiabera, in Minas Gerais. The specimens show green and yellow color-zoned, discoidal crystals (low-angle hexagonal dipyramids) to 3 cm pleasingly set on feldspar matrix. A similar surprise awaited ...