Fluorite

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The Xihuashan Ore Field at Dayu Co., Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, China is economically known for tungsten and rare earth elements, but mineralogically it is its Fluorite specimens that have brought it attention. However, unlike many of the other mining regions where fine minerals have been found, specimens from Xihuashan Ore Field are much harder to come by and rarely seen available for sale now. Piaotang mine has perhaps provided the finest specimens from this orefield, as very colourful and perfect glassy cubic Fluorite crystals perched on Quartz crystals, but they are extremely rare now. This unusual orange-brown coloured Fluorite specimen is simply provenanced to the general Ore Field and of the very few similar specimens illustrated online all follow suit with their labelling but often with a question as to if they are the variety Yttrofluorite. Quite how that attribution came about is uncertain, other than this material is fluorescent under LW and SW UV light. This very large display plate specimen comes from Arvid Pasto's renowned worldwide Fluorite collection and is incredibly large compared with the few available images online, most of which indicate that they were mined just before 2014. Upon this piece, the Fluorite crystals consist of complex stepped faces with many intergrown, or twinned crystals. Individually the crystals reach up to 1.4 cm on edge and are translucent with sparse small white grains of ?Calcite dotted upon the surface of a few of the crystals. An unusual looking Fluorite from this mysterious locality in China.