Lepidolite

specimen number:
2062424

location:
Brown Derby Mine, Gunnison Co., Colorado, USA

description:
Curved micaceous light purple crystals of lepidolite in a quartz matrix with muscovite. Good locality example for the species. Collected in 2018.

The Brown Derby Mine in Gunnison County, Colorado, was discovered in 1930, with active commercial production primarily taking place during World War II between September 1943 and the spring of 1945, though small-scale prospecting and intermittent operations extended afterward before the site eventually closed. Geologically, the deposit is part of the Quartz Creek pegmatite district and is characterized by a series of zoned pegmatite dikes hosted within metadiorite. The mine is well known for its complex mineralogy, containing significant economic and specimen minerals such as lepidolite, beryl, microlite, lithia tourmaline, columbite, and tantalite.

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