Bertrandite

specimen number:
9507132

location:
Papachacra, Corral Quemado, Belen, Catamarca, Argentina

description:
Fine gemmy slightly pinkish to mostly colorless crystals of sharply formed bertrandite to 1.0 cm in size on matrix. In good condition.

Papachacra, situated near Corral Quemado in the Belen Department of Catamarca, Argentina, is a remote mineral district featuring small, fluorine-rich miarolitic pegmatites tied to the shallowly emplaced Paleozoic El Portezuelo (Papachacra) Granite stock. While the region has seen artisanal and small-scale mining prospect activity and organized claim work since the late 20th century (with modern exploration ramping up around the late 1980s) without a definitive historical closing date, its pegmatites and associated hydrothermal pockets are celebrated by geologists and collectors for producing exceptional specimens of smoky quartz, microcline, albite, fluorite, and topaz. Within this specialized geological setting, rare accessory accessory minerals include bertrandite, a basic beryllium sorosilicate that crystallizes as a late-stage secondary phase during post-magmatic volatile evolution.

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