Benyacarite (exceptionally rare)

Item Description

Benyacarite is an extremely rare hydrated manganese titanium iron phosphate, found in less than 10 places on Earth. It was first reported from the El Criollo Mine in Argentina, and according to the entry on mindat.org was named after, "Maria Angelica Rodríguez de Benyacar (8 December 1928 -), Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, for her contribution to mineralogical studies". This piece is from the Sítio do Castelo Mine in Portugal and features tiny pale beige colored micro crystals sitting on indigo colored spherical groups of what is labeled as Strengite (but it could also be Phosphosiderite) on matrix. This is strictly a micro specimen, and we photographed the tiny Benyacarite crystals with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. From the collection of Daniel ("Dan") W. Behnke (July 31, 1932 - January 20, 2020) of Glenview, Illinois. Dan was an Associate Photographer of both the Mineralogical Record and Rock and Minerals magazines. He served as the Micromount chairman of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical Societies from 1981 to 1988. He was elected to the National Board of Directors of the Friends of Mineralogy in 1989, and the Micromounters Hall of Fame in 2007. He was a beloved member of the mineral collecting community, most notably for his supreme skill at photomicrography. If you've ever seen any of Dan's micro photos on mindat.org, it's easy to see why he was one of the best in this field. You can read his obituary at https://www.nhscotthanekamp.com/obituaries/Daniel-W-Behnke?obId=10633628