Provenite

Ilha claim (Lavra da Ilha)

MineClosedDraft data

16.6450° S, 41.8636° W · ± 1 km

Rose quartz from Minas Gerais, Brazil, with photos of specimens from this locality.

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Minerals found here

Rose quartz

Rose quartz at Ilha claim (Lavra da Ilha)

Rose quartz that grew late in a zoned pegmatite and is easily recognised by abundant eosphorite crystals, often with zanazziite, wardite or apatite, on the same specimen

Rose quartz cluster of two generations, slender pale spires above stouter vivid pink crystals, from the Ilha claim, 4.5 cm.
Rose quartz cluster of two generations, slender pale spires above stouter vivid pink crystals, from the Ilha claim, 4.5 cm.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Two-sided cabinet specimen with a massive rose quartz matrix covered in drusy pink quartz crystals, 12.9 cm, from the Ilha claim.
Two-sided cabinet specimen with a massive rose quartz matrix covered in drusy pink quartz crystals, 12.9 cm, from the Ilha claim.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Druse of pink rose quartz crystals over a skeletal quartz termination from the Ilha claim, 5.4 cm.
Druse of pink rose quartz crystals over a skeletal quartz termination from the Ilha claim, 5.4 cm.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Formula
SiO₂
Morphology
Irregular crusts, striped or parallel aggregates and crowns of doubly terminated crystals around quartz crystals up to about 10 cm across
Typical size
Single crystals from a few millimetres to 2 cm
Color / luster
Nearly purple-pink to pale pink-white; transparent to opaque; lustrous
Associated minerals
Quartzeosphoritezanazziitewarditeapatiteopal (hyalite)pyrite
Surface features
Some crystals coated with fluorescent hyalite opal, pyrite, or a dust of quartz or iron and manganese oxides
Availability
Scarce
History
Pegmatite discovered in 1969; the rose quartz specimens on the market date mainly from the 1960s to 1970s finds, and one specimen was Mindat photo of the day in 2008. Mining ended about thirty years before 2015.

Sources: SRC-464 SRC-467

About Rose quartz →

Geology of the locality

Setting
Zoned granite pegmatite on a small island in the Jequitinhonha River, about 3 km north of Taquaral, partly covered by alluvium. A quartz core is surrounded by two medium-grained feldspathic zones with albitic replacement bodies rich in geodes.
Type
Hydrothermal
Host rock
Quartzose mica schist
Region
Minas Gerais
Country
Brazil

Coordinates converted from the degrees-minutes-seconds position on the Mindat locality page (16 38 42 S, 41 51 49 W); accuracy not stated there. Pegmatite discovered in 1969; the pit (about 70 x 10 m, over 15 m deep) fills with sand during annual floods and mining ended roughly thirty years before the 2015 source text.

Sources: SRC-464

Sources

  1. SRC-464 · Database
    Ilha claim, Taquaral, Itinga, Minas Gerais, BrazilMindat.org · Mindat.org
  2. SRC-467 · Website
    Wikimedia Commons file pages Quartz-236691.jpg, Quartz-237636.jpg, Quartz-160074.jpgLavinsky, R.M. · Wikimedia Commons

Draft data from the Provenite workbook. Check entries against the cited sources before relying on them. Photos are open-licence images from Wikimedia Commons; the author and licence are given with each photo.