Microlite with Cassiterite & Tourmaline on Lepidolite – Virgem da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

An interesting multi-mineral pegmatite specimen featuring microlite, cassiterite and tourmaline on purple lepidolite from Virgem da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The specimen is dominated by a sparkling lavender to purple lepidolite matrix hosting small brown octahedral microlite crystals, contrasting black cassiterite, and gemmy green tourmalines (elbaite). The combination of several collectible pegmatite minerals on the colorful lepidolite matrix makes this an appealing and mineralogically diverse specimen.

Microlite is a tantalum-rich oxide mineral typically found in granitic pegmatites and is considerably less familiar than many of the minerals with which it occurs. One of the accompanying historic labels specifically describes this specimen as “small brown octahedral [crystals] with black cassiterite (tin oxide) on purple lepidolite.”

The specimen comes from with a label from the Mark & Jeanette Rogers Fine Minerals (USA) dealership. At some point, it was acquired by an unknown Calgary, Alberta collection and later ended up in Value Village in Calgary (a thrift store). This "Value Village collection" was purchased by the sharp eye of an enterprising young man in Calgary who later sold it to me at Rocky Mountain Minerals & Fossils. 

Minerals: Microlite, Cassiterite, Tourmaline, Lepidolite
Locality: Virgem da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Crystal System: Cubic (Microlite); Tetragonal (Cassiterite); Trigonal (Tourmaline); Monoclinic (Lepidolite)
Mineral Class: Oxides, Silicates
Provenance: Ex Daniel Nieviadomy; Unknown Calgary collector; Mark & Jeanette Rogers Fine Minerals
Dimensions: 7.5 × 6  cm (longest tourmaline = 1.5 cm)