Recent Finds of Ajoite-included Quartz in the Artonvitta mine, Messina district, Limpopo Province, South Africa

摘要

In the mid-1980s, unusual specimens of "included" quartz emerged from the Messina mining district in South Africa, with the rare copper silicates ajoite, papagoite and shattuckite tinting the transparent quartz crystals in varying shades of blue. Between 2007 and 2011 a father-and-son team of specimen diggers succeeded in opening new pockets in the Artonvilla mine, in the Messina district, and small numbers of these beautiful specimens again became available. Today the locality lies dormant once more.