I purchased some excellent specimens of earthy green apatite on orange calcite from Darryl MacFarlane at the East Coast Show earlier this month (August, 2010). Darryl holds the mineral rights and operated the Otter Lake (Yates) mine in distant northern Quebec Province, Canada. But he had some bad news: the site is now closed and has been reclaimed! He reported that the mineralized vein dips down and under a rising hill, so the cost of removing overburden became doubly difficult, and more than doubly expensive. He emphasized that there is more material there, but the cost of recovering it would be prohibitively expensive based on today’s specimen prices. So, if you haven’t added one of the amazing Otter Lake specimens to your collection yet, now is probably a good time to buy, before prices go up (as they always do after a mine closes, and the material still in the pipeline begins to dry up).
Here’s a link to our available apatite specimens, including several stunning pieces from Otter Lake. Oh, and we have not raised our prices!
6" Green APATITE Crystal on 12"Orange CALCITE-Otter Lake QUE
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