Churchite-(Y) on Goethite

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Churchite-(Y) was first described from an iron mine near Auerbach in der Oberpfalz - Maffei mine - in the early 20th century before it was realized that the original Churchite found a century earlier in Cornwall had been confused and was yttrium-dominant too, but had been described as cerium-dominant. Churchite-(Y) was subsequently identified in another iron mine near Auerbach in der Oberpfalz - Leonie I mine, and that is where this miniature specimen is from. Upon it, Churchite-(Y) forms classic, snow-white to pale cream coloured silky acicular to feathery sprays to about 2 mm in diameter in cavities within brown Goethite iron ore. This is a great representative example of this rare species. Ex the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).