Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite

The area around Cerro Huanaquino is best known for its excellent Magnetite specimens, but a close second behind these pieces are the attractive and very well crystallized Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite crystals. Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite is actually a variety of Hydroxylapatite and is well known from a fair number of world localities, but not often are the crystals as large, attractive and well-formed as the Bolivian specimens.

This piece is a great thumbnail sized specimen of Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite with well-defined hexagonal form, a soft peach-tan color, medium luster, and is somewhat translucent. It is one of the better crystals of this rare material that I have handled and would make a great addition to a thumbnail suite, or a suite of Bolivian specimens. If you're a rare species collector, this is also a great opportunity to obtain a good-sized single crystal of a species that is often only found in crude or microscopic crystals.

Specimen # BOL711B222