Senegalite from Mount Kourou Diakouma, Saraya, Tambacounda Region, Senegal

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Yellowish green sparkling crystals to 0.1 cm in size throughout open pockets with turquoise. In good condition.Mount Kourou Diakouma in the Saraya and Kedougou region of Senegal is situated within the Paleoproterozoic Kenedougou Inlier, a geological domain characterized by ancient greenstone belts, iron ore deposits, and complex metamorphic and sedimentary formations. The locality is globally famous as the type locality for senegalite, a rare hydrous aluminum phosphate mineral that typically occurs as colorless to yellow prismatic crystals or crusts associated with iron and aluminum-rich weathering profiles and secondary phosphate mineralization. Mineral collecting in this remote area is driven entirely by specimen recovery from local iron and phosphate occurrences, yielding rare micro-to-thumbnail mineral specimens prized by systematic collectors worldwide.