Fairfieldite

Foote Lithium Co. Mine, Kings Mountain, Cleveland County,

North Carolina, USA

Ex Jack Eaker

Photo by Tomer Shapira

The pegmatite of the Foote mine is not your average pegmatite. This locale is host to a wild number of unusual Phosphate and Silicate minerals. If you aren't familiar, go take a look on Mindat and just see how many oddities and type-locality species are found there. It sits in the same realm as Mont Saint Hilaire for being a pegmatite (albeit different compositions...Foote is granitic, MSH is nepheline syenite) for being a bit of a rabbit-hole for collectors in the sense of the wide variety of what you can find.

Fairfieldite is a hydrated Calcium, Manganese, Phosphate, which is notable for its occurrence at the Foote mine. Here we have two decently sized clusters of it on matrix. Larger crystals of anything (besides Fluorapatite?) from Foote are uncommon. This is a micro-mount and "crust" collector's paradise.