Mordenite

Help improve this record

No owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

An attractive example for this well-known locality with light salmon colored crystals of heulandite to 1.5 cm in size, these very lustrous, across the top of a white silky crystallized mordenite matrix. In good condition. This was likely collected in the 1990s. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.The Rats Nest claim, situated in the Challis-Bay Horse mining district of Custer County, Idaho, is known for producing fine specimen-grade zeolites through small-scale, hobbyist, and professional mineral collecting rather than commercial ore extraction. Geologically, the area features volcanic and hydrothermal environments where mineral-rich solutions filled cavities and fractures in the host rock, precipitating fine crystals of mordenite and tabular, pinkish to white heulandite. Heulandite itself is a hydrated sodium calcium aluminum silicate framework mineral belonging to the zeolite group, prized by collectors for its distinct coffin-shaped or diamond-like crystal habits often found resting on fibrous mordenite matrices.