COLORADOITE, STEGOSAURUS, AND THE COMPROMISE OF 1877 + SILVER DOLLARS

 

In 1961 Edwin B. Eckel of the USGS, after 30 years of work, authored Bulletin 1114, Minerals of Colorado: A 100 Year Record.  The Bulletin was a major contribution to understanding mineral resources of Colorado and was popular with both amateur rockhounds and professional geologists.  On pages 6-7 Eckel noted that “during the past 100 years Colorado has given 42, new, or type, minerals to the science of mineralogy. [In addition, there are] 22 Colorado minerals that were first described as new but whose validity as species has since been discredited.”

The earliest record in Eckel’s Type list is from 1874 when Genth (1874) described schirmerite, a silver-lead-bismuth sulfide, from the Geneva District located about two miles southeast of the mining community of Montezuma (located a few miles east of the Keystone Ski Resort). The next record is 1877 when Genth described the mercury telluride mineral, coloradoite, from Boulder County.

Ah, 1877 was an interesting year and earlier this winter I had been reading about the Compromise of 1877 ( as a history buff bored in the pandemic I locate and read about all sorts of trivial “happenings”).  However, suddenly the Compromise was seemingly made relevant due to the election of 2020, at least wrongly relevant to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).   In the election of 1876 Samuel Tilden (D-NY) won the popular vote for president by ~250, 000 votes over Rutherford B. Hays (R-OH) and accumulated 184 votes in the electoral college.  Unfortunately for Tilden, 185 electoral votes were needed for victory (Hays garnered 165 electoral votes).  Republicans claimed voter fraud (nothing new in 2020) and Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, states still saddled with Reconstruction-era governments in power, sent in two conflicting sets of electoral votes---what to do?  Well, Congress formed a Commission and was in discussion when Republican minions of Hayes secretly negotiated a “compromise” with southern Democrats of the three contested states to throw their support, and 20 electoral votes, to Hayes (originally the Democrats had supported Tilden) allowing him to reach the magic number of 185.  In return for their support, Hayes essentially gave away the store by withdrawing all Federal troops from the southern states and ending Reconstruction.  In doing so he abandoned the freed slaves and ushered in the ear of Jim Crow laws.  In short order, state governments in the southern states stopped enforcing the 14^th Amendment (Black Citizenship), the 15^th (right to vote), and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.  The U.S. is still trying to come to terms with the Compromise of 1877.  Meanwhile in Colorado, Leadville was booming and was “founded” by mine owners Horace Tabor and August Meyer in 1877.  In Morrison, Colorado, on the eastern front of the Rockies, one of the world’s best-known dinosaurs, Stegosaurus, was discovered in the Jurassic Morrison Formation.  In August 1876 Colorado had become the 38^th state and so the November presidential election was their first--but not really for the general population!  In those days of old, the Colorado General Assembly picked the three presidential electors and awarded their three votes to Rutherford B. Hayes. This was the final time in U.S history that any state awarded electoral votes without the candidate winning the popular vote.  So, in a way, Colorado had a giant voice in electing Hayes for if our statehood had come four or more months later those three electoral votes would not have been available.  I suppose Tilden would have become President and our country would have changed.  One can only speculate “how.” As for Senator Cruz, he needed to study history.  The 1877 Commission was formed since the electoral vote had not been formally certified by all states—at least there were conflicting sets of “certified” electors submitted to Congress.  In 2020, all electoral votes submitted to Congress had been certified by every state—end of debate.  Finis.

Eckel’s Bulletin was such a popular read that various members of the Friends of Mineralogy, Colorado Chapter, and the Denver Museum of Natural History (now Nature and Science), spent 20 years updating the book and published, in 1997, a 665-page tome entitled Minerals of Colorado.  Eckel provided information on 445 Colorado minerals while the revision described 774 Colorado minerals.  While Eckel described 42 Tyle Minerals from Colorado I counted 66 Types listed in the revised book.  I do not have appropriate information to speculate on new Types that Colorado may have produced since 1997.

The element tellurium is a silver-white metalloid (possesses properties of both metals and non-metals) with the symbol Te and the atomic number of 52 (number of protons in the nucleus of the atom). Tellurium exhibits oxidation states of 6+, 5+, 4+, 3+, 2+. 1+, 1-, 2-; however, only 6+, 4+ and 2- are stable. Tellurium can act as a cation with a 4+ oxidation state (IV) (a tellurite) as in the uncommon mineral tellurite, TeO₂ (described May 30, 2020), or with a 6+ oxidation state (VI) (a tellurate) as in jensenite, Cu₃TeO₆-2H₂O.   The telluride anion with a charge of 2- often combines with gold and silver cations in the minerals calaverite (AuTe₂) and sylvanite (AuAgTe₄); both minerals form major gold ores at Cripple Creek, Colorado (sylvanite described October 25, 2020). Coloradoite is an uncommon telluride where tellurium (2- oxidation state) combines with mercury (2+ oxidation state) and the result is HgTe.

Genth (1877) named coloradoite for the State as he described the Type Specimens from the Smuggler, Keystone, and Mountain Lion Mines in gold mining districts west and northwest of Boulder.  However, in Colorado the largest concentrations (and I use that term loosely) seem to be in the San Juan Mountains. My small specimen came from the Bessie G Mine in the La Plata Mountains, a subrange of the San Juans located northwest of Durango.  As with many tellurium minerals, I remain somewhat confused (easy for me) to fully understand coloradoite.  Most specimens are exceedingly small (millimeters) in size and are intermixed with other tellurium, gold, and silver minerals.  I certainly do not have the determinative mineralogical skills, nor the electronic gizmos, to help with sorting out the different minerals. But, as T.S. Elliot noted, if you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

A mixture of telluride minerals, silver shiny plus black, with gold in a quartz matrix from the Bessie G Mine.  The black mineral is probably coloradite while the silver my be coloradite or another telluride.  There is also free gold in the quartz noted in middle photomicrograph.  The length <---> of the telluride  exposure is ~1.6 mm.

Vogel and Gonzales (2014) did note that the mines in the La Platas are associated with several laccolithic complexes that are Laramide in age, ~70 Ma. The mining district is well known for vein and replacement epithermal (shallow thermal deposits associated with hot fluids) gold-silver deposits that form in association with telluride minerals.  Besides coloradoite, the Bessie G has produced the tellurium minerals alaite, calaverite, hessite, krennerite, magnolite, petzite, sylvanite, and stützite. Coloradoite is soft (~2.5 Mohs), has a metallic luster, is black to gray black in color, has a black streak. Specimens are usually granular to massive with crystals indistinguishable.

REFERENCES CITED

Genth, F.A. (1877) Stated meeting, October 20th, 1876. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society: 16: 287-289.

Vogel, C. (2014, October). Insight into the Origin of Gold at the Bessie G Mine, La Plata Mining District, Southwestern Colorado. In 2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

As another little bit of trivia, Colorado mining interests probably wished they could has rescinded their electoral votes for Hayes. During Grant's term in 1873, Congress removed the use of silver dollars as authorized coins (Coinage Act of 1873).  Of course this action aggravated, well actually more than aggravation, silver miners and the mining companies. They certainly wanted to mine and sell more silver!  Enter the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 that required the U.S. Government to purchase between two million and four million dollars of silver each month from mines in the western states and then mint the bullion into spendable silver dollars.  Well, Hayes vetoed the the bill (another aggravation) but his veto was overridden and the Act became law.  That really was not much silver and the western miners continued to complain until the Silver Purchase Act of 1890 (Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890) required the Government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver each month.  Sounds good for the mining companies but not so good for the Government.  This monthly purchase was financed by the special issue of Treasury Notes that could be purchased and then redeemed for either gold or silver--do you see a big problem brewing?  The silver currency was vastly overvalued and investors purchased silver and traded it for the undervalued gold and then sold the gold on the commodity market for big profits.  Finally the Treasury essentially ran out of gold and President Grover Cleveland got the Act repealed in 1893.  Sounds like a good deal to me--the price of silver in 1892-1893 was between $.60-.70 per ounce while gold ranged between $18-19. Ain't some trivia fascinating?  A good stress reducer!  

 

JANUARY 6, 2021: A DAY OF INFAMY

Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think. Not obsess. Just breathe and have faith that all will work out for the best.

Karen Salmansohn

GET HAPPINESS FREEBIES!

 

PHOSPHATES ARE PHUN: STEWARTITE

 

I am always on the lookout for phosphate minerals and have documented several in this Blog.  Famous mines producing secondary phosphates, often microcrystals, are the Tip Top in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Foote Mine in North Carolina, the Branchville in Connecticut, and the Palermo #1 in New Hampshire.  I recently acquired a micromount of stewartite, a manganese iron phosphate [Mn⁺⁺Fe⁺⁺⁺(PO₄)₂(OH)₂-8H₂O], collected from Palermo #1 and mounted by R. Stevenson in 1972.

The micromount with a cluster of stewartite crystals in the lower 1/3 of the specimen and scattered crystals throughout. Maximum width of specimen ~3.5 mm.

The Grafton Pegmatite Field, with the Palermo Pegmatites #1, #2, #3, is in the Acadian Orogenic Belt, a tectonic area that represents the Devonian (~420Ma --~360 Ma) uplift of mountains in the northern section of the Appalachian Orogen, around southern Virginia to Newfoundland.  What we also know is that the active tectonic zone supplied magmatic plutons, volcanos, hydrothermal fluids, and lots of heat for metamorphic transformation of preexisting rocks. As I noted in a previous posting (29 Oct. 2020), the pegmatites within the area of Palermo mines are quite complex but have as their primary phosphate (with PO₄) minerals triphylite (Li, Fe) AND/OR lithiophylite (Li, Mn), and montebrasite (Li, Al) AND/OR ambygonite (Li, Al, F) (Nizamoff, 2006).  These primary minerals then interacted with post-magmatic aqueous fluids to produce several tens of secondary phosphate minerals including stewartite. Nizamoff (2006) also determined that primary montebrasite [LiAl(PO₄)(OH,F)] and/or triphylite (lithium iron phosphate) PLUS muscovite (to add aluminum) were subjected to high temperatures, ~500^oC—300^oC, by infusions of hydrothermal fluids.  These fluids also leached out lithium and fluorine and left behind iron, magnesium, manganese, aluminum, and hydroxyl ions and the result was the formation of the iron manganese phosphate, stewartite (among many others). So, the primary phosphates were heated by hot fluids which also leached out some of the elements and left behinds others producing the often-colorful secondary phosphates.

Photomicrograph of submillimeter-length stewartite crystals with arrow pointing to inclined termination of bladed crystal.

Photomicrograph of submillimeter-length stewartite crystals. 

Stewartite usually is found as yellow, golden yellow, orange, lemon yellow or brownish yellow, very tiny crystals where one needs magnification to observe them.  Crystals are translucent to transparent, almost vitreous, acicular to thin bladed with terminations that are inclined, soft (~3.0 Mohs), and leave a white streak (if one wants to ruin a crystal).  They often appear in tuffs and sprays or bundles.  Crystals of stewartite are quite attractive under magnification and often are difficult to visually distinguish from laueite (another phosphate).

REFERENCES CITED

Nizamoff, J., 2006, The Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Phosphate Paragenesis of the Palermo #2 Pegmatite, North Groton, New Hampshire: University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 398.

THE SELENIDE MINERALS: TOUGH TO ID--KLOCKMANNITE, CLAUSTHALITE, BERZELIANITE

 

This has been a tough subject to grasp--the selenides, and I have read countless hours trying to better understand. I apologize up front for all the technical jargon, much more than I try to incorporate into my postings.  With the selenides, I moved out of my comfort zone. Every time I get out of that zone, regardless whether I win or fail, I learn something new, and that is a personal enjoyment. Some people tend to think after a certain age, they are no longer allowed to start something new, and perhaps something scary. The truth is, not branching out is just an excuse to stay in the comfort zone. If I had stayed in the zone, I would have never learned about oxygen fugacity, fO₂, and its relationship to the formation of minerals. However, I suspect that rockhounds and readers on this list might wish I had never ventured out of my zone 😊

In this time of Covid-19, be brave, learn something new every day, get out of your comfort zone, read a book to relax, wear your mask, support local businesses, walk around the block and breathe deeply, check on your neighbors (especially the elderly), contribute to the local food bank, and be first in line to get vaccinated! May you enjoy the Holiday Season and wish for a new and better and safer New Year.  Thank you all for taking an interest in my Blog. Keep in contact. Stay well.  mike

And now, ON TO THE SELENIDES. 

Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848) was described by Wilson (1994) as one of the greatest mineral chemists who ever lived.  That is quite a statement!  Berzelius was born in Väversunda Sörgård, Sweden, a product of three generations of clergy on each side of the family.  Now, I presume that father, grandfathers, and great grandfathers all expected a great theological future for Jöns.  Surprise! His grades in theology were not so hot but he excelled in the natural sciences.  So, the entered the great University at Uppsala and confused the faculty.  Seems he was considered gifted but undisciplined (I was probably considered average and undisciplined). But all was not lost since he was very good in inorganic chemistry and mineralogy, and as an adult became one of the greatest mineral chemists who ever lived. He received that accolade, since MinDat.org noted that Berzelius was the father of analytical chemistry, inventor of chemical symbol notation. and discoverer of selenium (Se), cerium (Ce), silicon (Si), thorium (Th), titanium (Ti), and zirconium (Zr), in addition to other elements that he gave to his students to work on.  Those discoveries certainly would qualify him as the greatest, but my guess is that students do not learn these facts in modern mineralogy courses!

Jöns Jacob Berzelius, 1779-1848.

One of the elements first described by Berzelius was selenium, Atomic Number 34 on the Periodic Chart of Elements, collected from copper deposits in the mines near Falun, Sweden (see Posting July 1, 2020).  It was named after the Moon goddess Selene due to its similarity to the recently discovered tellurium (named for the Earth). Selenium is a metalloid with properties intermediate between a metal and nonmetals.  For comparison, other metalloids include silicon, boron, antimony, arsenic, tellurium, and several others. Selenium is a rare element and its abundance in the earth’s crust ranks the element 67th (0.05 ppm) while #1 oxygen has 461,000 ppm. Native selenium is rare as a mineral but does appear in some uranium-vanadium sandstone deposits. If selenium is available in hydrothermal or magmatic solutions it often substitutes for some sulfur in the formation sulfide minerals.

Commercially, selenium almost entirely (>80%) is obtained as a byproduct of copper refining (Brown, 2002).  A smaller amount comes from the refining of gold, silver, zinc, and lead, where high concentrations of selenium allow for profitable operations.  No ore deposits are mined for selenium alone. Although Germany and Japan are the leading producers of selenium, the raw products come from Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America (Bleiwas, 2010). The U.S. has about 8% of the world’s reserve, mostly tied up in copper resources in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona (Brininstool, 2015). Selenium is used in the manufacturing of glass and electronics, and in some color pigments.

I do not have a specimen of native selenium but have acquired thumbnails of clausthalite [PbSe], klockmannite [CuSe] and berzelianite [Cu₂Se]; all are fairly rare minerals and in the selenide group.  Selenium can exist in the oxidation states of 2-, 2+, 4+, and 6+ and form selenates, selenides, and selenites; all are anions with a negative oxidation state.  In selenide compounds the selenium  has an oxidation charge of 2-; the group includes all ~125 naturally occurring selenium minerals (I think).  Selenites (not the gypsum variety) contain the SeO₃ radical (Se IV) while selenates contain SeO₄ (Se VI); both of these latter groups are quite soluble in water and do not form naturally occurring minerals, at least none that I could not locate. Once selenium becomes aqueous it can be taken up by organisms.  Selenates prefer well-aerated waters while selenites are more common in slow-moving waters such as lakes (Stillings, 2017).  There are a plethora of synthesized selenium compounds and solutions in the laboratory.

Black grains of fine grained berzelianite disseminated in calcite. From the Skrikerum Mine in Sweden. Width photo FOV ~ 5.7 cm.

Photomicrograph of disseminated berzelianite (and perhaps other selenides) in calcite.  From above specimen. Width FOV ~1.7 cm.

As above. Width FOV ~1.7 cm.

Berzelianite, a copper selenide, is rare in the mineral record and was first described from the Skrikerum Mine located in south central Sweden; a mine “famous” for producing rare selenides.  Besides berzelianite, the Mine is the Type Locality of three other rare copper-silver selenides: crookesite, eucairite, and selenojalpaite.  The minerals are found in fracture-fillings hosted by vein calcite associated with hydrothermal alteration. Copper was first mined ~1779 and some exploration and mining, mostly for selenium, continued until the end of the 1800s.

Berzelianite is a soft (~2.0-2.5 Mohs) metal with a metallic luster, a lead-gray to blue gray to black color (but shiny when fresh), an irregular fracture, and is opaque.   It occurs as microcrystals disseminated in a carbonate matrix (calcite at the Type Locality).  At times berzelianite [Cu₂Se] is incorporated within the calcareous matrix and is difficult to distinguish from other selenides at Skrikerum, especially klockmannite (CuSe].  The massive form of both minerals seems indistinguishable to a soft rocker like me; therefore, I am relying on previous identifications and published descriptions.

Klockmannite has a molecular weight of 44.59 % copper and 55.41% selenium (Webmineral.com) while berzelianite weighs in at 61.68 % copper and 38.32 % selenium. Klockmannite belongs to the hexagonal Crystal System while berzelianite is Isometric; however, in massive minerals there is little chance of observing mineral shape under a scope. Both are grayish black to dark gray in color, opaque, and soft at ~2.0+ (Mohs). Both have a sort of a dull metallic luster and are associated with calcite.  So, I am just taking my chances, especially since I do not have a reflected light microscope and polished sections. 

Blackish blue klockmannite "encased" in calcite.  Width of specimen ~9 mm. Skrikerum Mine, Sweden.

Photomicrograph of boundary of klockmannite and calcite (specimen above).
 Clausthalite is a lead selenide (PbSe) related to galena, the lead sulfide (PbS).  In fact, Förster (2005) has documented a solid solution series between the two minerals. Clausthalite forms in  low-sulfur hydrothermal deposits and may be the most common selenide. In many ways it looks like galena with a lead-gray color, a grayish black streak, and a metallic luster. It is soft (~2.5 Mohs), brittle and often granular but at times forms nice euhedral crystal (Isometric Crystal System). One of my specimens came from the famous Tilkerode Mining District, Mansfeld, Mansfeld-Südharz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (part of the Bohemian Massif, see below).  Here selenide minerals (including 3 Types) occur in veins with carbonate minerals, gold, hematite, platinum group minerals, and rare sulfides.  Mining hematite for iron occurred in the 1700s and 1800s (Stillings, 2017).  Simon and others (1997) studied the “why” of selenides forming from solutions rather than the simpler incorporation of selenium directly into sulfide minerals replacing some sulfur.  They believed that high fO₂ (oxygen fugacity: the pressure of oxygen that is available to react with other components) values helped separate selenium from sulfur and prevented incorporation into the sulfides! If I understand any small thing about mineral/ore deposits, and that is a real stretch, above the groundwater line there is a high fO₂ and oxide minerals form.  Below the water line there is a high sulfur fugacity (sO₂) and sulfide minerals form.  Don’t take that to the bank without checking.

Clausthalite, Tilkerode Mining District, Germany. Width FOV ~ 1.5 cm.  Photomicrograph below.

The second specimen of clausthalite I obtained is labeled as being collected from Petrovice, Russia—I believe this is incorrect.  First, I could not locate mines in or near a Russian locality named Petrovice.  In fact, not even a locality was noted.  Second, there is a mining district in the Czech Republic named Petrovice, a major locality noted for the occurrence and collection of rare selenides, including petrovicite. The old mines are located in one of the uranium-vanadium-polymetallic mining districts in the Bohemian Massif (structurally controlled block of highlands).  The Massif encompasses parts of the central Czech Republic, eastern Germany, southern Poland, and northern Austria. In the Czech Republic, the Massif has a core of plutonic granites surrounded by metasedimentary rocks of late Precambrian and early Cambrian age.  Mineralization, as dated by the uranium, is Permian in age and is associated with the Varisican Orogeny (the mountain building event associated with the collision of Laurasia and Gondwana producing the Pangaea Supercontinent) (Škácha and others, 2017).

Clausthalite, Petrovice, Czech Republic. Width FOV ~1.0 cm.

Photomicrograph below.

The selenide occurrences in the Bohemian Massif are amazing as the rocks have produced at least18 newly discovered species (since around 1970; and 5 more before that date).  These selenides seem fascinating to me and minerals worth studying if I were a young student in a major research institution!!! Those selenides…are characterized using wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy, reflected light, powder X-ray diffraction, single crystal X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction (Škácha and others, 2017). As I said, if I were a bright young student well versed in electronic gizmos!!!!  Now I am just an ole soft rocker trying to have fun and do my best with some pretty complex, and hard to identify, minerals.

Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal development. While there is no standardized definition of lifelong learning, it has generally been taken to refer to the learning that occurs outside of a formal educational institute…Lifelong learning …is best described as being voluntary with the purpose of achieving personal fulfillment.  valamis.com.

 

REFERENCES CITED

Bleiwas, D.I., 2010, Byproduct mineral commodities used for the production of photovoltaic cells: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1365.

Brininstool, Mark, 2015, Copper [advance release], inMetals and minerals: U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook 2012, v. I, p. 20.

Brown, R.D., Jr., 2002, Selenium and tellurium, in Metals and minerals: U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook 2000, v. I, p. 67.

Förster, H.J., 2005, Mineralogy of the U-Se-polymetallic deposit Niederschlema-Alberoda, Erzgebirge, Germany, IV—The continuous clausthalite-galena solid-solution series: Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogy—Abhandlungen, v. 181, no. 2, April.

Simon, Grigore, Kesler, S.E., and Essene, E.J., 1997, Phase relations among selenides, tellurides, and oxides; II, applications to selenide-bearing ore deposits: Economic Geology, v. 92,

Škácha, Pavel, Sejkora, Jiří, Plášil, Jakub, 2017, Selenide mineralization in the Příbram Uranium and Base-Metal District (Czech Republic):: Minerals, 7, no. 6: 91.

Stillings, L.L.2017, Selenium, Chapter Q of Critical mineral resources of the United States—economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: USGS Professional Paper 1802-Q, Editors K.J. Schulz, J.H. DeYoung, R.R. Seal II, and D.C. Bradley.

Wilson, W.E., 1994, The history of mineral collecting1530-1799: The Mineralogical Record, v. 25, no. 6.

FAIRFIELDITE: UNCOMMON PHOSPHATE

 

As I have noted in several other posts, phosphates are among my favorite minerals (along with relatives vanadates and arsenates).  Phosphate minerals contain the anion PO₄ with an oxidation state of 3- arranged in a tetrahedron: 1 phosphate with an oxidation state of 5+ and 4 oxygens each with an oxidation state of 2- (for a total of 3-). In some phosphate minerals chlorine, fluorite, or hydroxide may be added as a negative anion as in the most common phosphate mineral group, apatite:   hydroxylapatite Ca₅(PO₄)3OH; fluorapatite Ca₅(PO₄)3F; chlorapatite Ca₅(PO₄)3Cl.

Fairfieldite is a uncommon phosphate that occurs as an accessory mineral in granite pegmatites, especially those that are rich in lithium—the Type Locality in Fairfield County, Connecticut (Fillow Quarry), Cleveland County, North Carolina (Foote Quarry), Custer County, South Dakota (Tip Top Mine and others).  Fairfieldite is a calcium manganese phosphate, [Ca₂Mn(PO₄)₂-2H₂O] with transparent to translucent euhedral crystals that leave a white streak. Crystals range from prismatic to equant and commonly appear as aggregates or foliated masses, rarely as radiating or fibrous.  Crystals have a sub-vitreous (mostly) to pearly luster and are soft at ~3.5 (Mohs).  Their color ranges from colorless to white to light yellow to perhaps greenish white.  It is sort of a nondescript mineral that sort of looks like gypsum.  The best bet to help identify fairfieldite is its occurrence in granite pegmatites, especially lithium rich forms. 

Numerous white to colorless of fairfieldite crystals.  Width FOV ~ 7 mm.     
I have not collected many minerals east of the Mississippi River—not an astounding statement when you consider that my only living stint east of the River has been about 15 feet while residing in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  I have traveled extensively in the eastern U.S.; however, it seems I was always fishing, hiking, camping, seeing the sights, etc. and missed most minerals.

During one sojourn through North Carolina I did travel through King Mountain and read about the nearby Foote Lithium Company Mine.  My interest in the mine, at that time, was in the lithium due to the many lithium mines in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  I really could not locate much information on the Foote Mine (partially due to self- quarantine and lack of access to research libraries) except that the mine has not been active for several years, is partially reclaimed (a park), and collecting is strictly prohibited.  According to MinDat, the granite pegmatite mined for lithium, tin, beryllium, niobium, tantalum, and “mica” is hosted in the Cherryville Quartz Monzonite, a Mississippian age batholith in the Carolina Piedmont Belt.  The Mine has produced 161 mineral species including the Type Locality of 15 minerals, many of which are rare phosphates.