Fluorapatite from Mexico

Attractive honey-yellow crystals
The iron mine Cerro del Mercado is located at the north edge of the town Durango in the Mexican federal state Durango and is one of the worldwide best-known localities for Apatite specimens. In the time of iron ore mining in the 60s and 70s the phosphate-containing Apatites were a disturbing factor for the iron production and were sorted out by hand on conveyor belts and were sold as a phosphate raw material to the chemical industry for the fertilizer production. Most of the Apatites which are found in the mining area are found in loose or cemented volcanic breccia associated with Calcite, Aragonite, Haematite, Limonite and clay minerals...