Hopeite (!!) with Phosphophyllite (first known specimens from South America!)

One of the most exciting and yet incredibly limited discoveries for Bolivian minerals. Bolivia is well-known for its phosphate minerals, but Hopeite (despite its fairly simple chemistry) has never been reported. This is not only a first-time find for Hopeite from Bolivia, but to the best of my knowledge, these specimens are the first ever Hopeites from South America! I acquired just a few of these specimens in 2011 and I honestly thought them to be a fairly common and unassuming associated species i.e., Barite. To the credit of Alfredo Petrov and Dr. Tony Kampf at the L. A. County Museum, they were able to verify that these specimens were indeed Hopeite!

Hopeite is truly only known from a few world localities in fine crystallized specimens, the most famous being the Kabwe Mine (Broken Hill Mine) in Zambia. The pieces from Bolivia are reminiscent of the classic and highly sought after Zambian specimens, showing the same tooth-like habit. As a matter of fact, when I acquired these specimens, the miner in Bolivia who found the specimens was referring to them as “dientes” (Spanish for teeth).

This piece is filled with a few translucent, white to off-white color, well-formed blocky orthorhombic Hopeite crystals sitting on reddish-brown altered Sandstone matrix. The most distinctive feature of the piece is that it hosts the single largest crystal of Hopeite that we’ve seen from this locality! Without question, these specimens stand as one of the greatest rarities that I have handled from Bolivia and would make a superb addition to any rare mineral suite. This specimen was collected in late 2010 and, to the best of my knowledge, no more have been found.

Specimen # BOL711B13