Rhodochrosite with Elpidite

Item Description

The Poudrette Quarry (Demix Quarry) at Mont Saint-Hilaire is unquestionably one of the top mineral localities in history. It has produced diverse and unique mix of individual mineral species, numbering in the hundreds. This complex nepheline-syenite / pegmatite locality has produced some of the most distinctive minerals in the world. This piece features distinctive crystals of Rhodochrosite, which have a reddish-brown hue (typical for MSH) showing a flattened tabular habit measuring up to 1.3 cm, associated with light grey-green colored prismatic crystals of Elpidite. This is the only locality that I know of where these two minerals are found together.
From the collection of Dr. Robert ("Bob") Byers of the San Francisco area. Bob is a spinal surgeon, who started collecting minerals as a boy when his father took him on geology field trips. Bob acquired this specimen from Frank and Wendy Melanson in 2009.