Sodalite with Albite

specimen number:
2062962

location:
Poudrette Quarry, Mt. St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada

description:
A very sharp crystal of sodalite just under 2.0 x 2.0 cm in size set the top matrix. The crystal is partially coated and white micro crystalline albite. Enough sodalite shows through however that this is very attractive with longwave fluorescent light. This is the variety of the species often called hackmanite. The specimen comes with two previous labels, one from the collection of Ray DeMark and one from Gilles Haineault. The latter label notes that this was collected in June, 1994.

The Poudrette Quarry is situated within the Cretaceous-aged Mont Saint-Hilaire alkaline intrusive complex in Quebec, Canada, formed by rare magma intrusions that concentrated high levels of incompatible elements. Operating primarily as a commercial stone quarry, it became world-famous among mineralogists and collectors due to its complex pegmatite pockets and xenoliths, which have yielded hundreds of unique and rare mineral species found nowhere else on Earth. Intensive commercial quarrying operations over the decades exposed these rich cavity systems, allowing researchers and hobbyists to salvage an extraordinary diversity of pristine specimens before active extraction wound down.

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