SPESSARTINE GARNET on MUSCOVITE

SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

A bright rich apricot orange cluster of Spessartine Garnet crystals perch at one end of a silvery Muscovite Mica matrix. There is one major Spessartine crystal, 1.9 cm at its widest point, accompanied by two smaller ones, all a very vibrant shade of orange. This small miniature is from Loliondo in the Ngorongoro district in the Arusha Region of Tanzania, a relatively new locality for high quality Spessartine discovered around 2008. Within the deposit the Spessartine is associated with veinlets of Hematite within a 100 m wide mass of Quartz. The Spessartine crystals are translucent and heavily striated on all faces. This is a splendid example on matrix from this seldom see locality in central-Tanzania.