Vantasselite with Cacoxenite, Ardennite

specimen number:
2354071

location:
Bihain, Stavelot, Luxembourg, Belgium

description:
Pearly white radiating crystal groupings of vantasselite measuring to 0.2 cm in size sparse across the top of this matrix with minor cacoxenite and ardennite. The specimen comes with several previous labels, one from the collection of Eric Laskowski, a second one from the collection of Al Kidwell. The latter label dates to the 1980s.

Bihain, situated near Stavelot in the Luxembourg province of Belgium, lies within the Stavelot Massif, a region renowned for its metamorphosed Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary rocks. The geology is characterized by low-grade metamorphic quartzites and schists traversed by hydrothermally altered quartz veins. In these veinlets and along schistosity planes of local quartzite quarries, mineralogists discovered vantasselite, a very rare hydrated aluminum phosphate mineral. First described in 1987 and named in honor of the Belgian mineralogist Rene Van Tassel, the mineral typically occurs as tiny, pearly-white radial rosettes and sprays. Though Bihain is not a site for commercial metal mining, its quarry dumps have become a significant collecting locality for micro-mineral enthusiasts seeking rare secondary phosphate species.

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