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Formula: Ca5(PO4)3F
Anhydrous phosphate containing halogen, apatite group
Epitaxial minerals: rutile, monazite and
carbonate-rich apatite (Mindat)
Specific gravity: 3.1 to 3.25
Hardness: 5
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless, yellow, green, blue and purple. Manganoan varieties are dark green and blue-green
Solubility: Slightly soluble in sulphuric acid and moderately soluble in hydrochloric and nitric acids
Common impurities: OH,Cl,TR,La,Ce,Pr,Nd,Sm,Eu,Gd,Dy,Y,Er,Mn
Environments
Igneous environments
Pegmatites
Carbonatitess
Sedimentary environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Fluorapatite is the most common rock-forming phosphate mineral.
It occurs as an accessory in all types of igneous rocks, and is important in syenite,
alkaline rocks, carbonatites and granite pegmatites. It also occurs in
magnetite deposits, and is common in marble
and skarn, alpine-type fissures and hydrothermal tin
veins. It occurs in both regional and
contact metamorphosed rocks, especially crystallised
limestone associated with titanite,
zircon, pyroxene,
amphibole, spinel,
vesuvianite and phlogopite, also in
talc and chlorite
schist, as deposits of marine origin, as replacent beds of
limestone or coral via solutions derived from guano, as nodules disseminated
in nearshore sediments and in coal measures. It is an essential component of sedimentary
phosphorite, common as a detrital
or diagenetic component in oolitic ironstone and phosphatic carbonate rocks and
shale, and residual in laterite
(Dana, HOM).
Other associated minerals include albite, diopside,
forsterite, scapolite,
chondrodite, calcite and
magnetite
(HOM, Mindat).
Fluorapatite is usually fluorescent under long or short wave ultraviolet, cathode or X radiation, yellow under
long wave and bright orange-yellow under shart wave. The most common activator is Mn2+
(FLM). Some fluorapatite from the Foote mine, Kings Mountain, North Carolina, US, is green, near-opaque and
exhibits strong yellow fluorescence due to high abundance of Mn2+
(R&M 91-3:253).
Localities
There are three co-type localities, the Minillas Mine, Tambillos mining district, La Serena, Elqui Province, Coquimbo, Chile,
the Sauberg Mine, Ehrenfriedersdorf, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany and the Holmbush Mine, Callington United Mines, Stokeclimsland,
Cornwall, England, UK.
At Klemm's quarry, Moculta, South Australia, fluorapatite crystals to 3mm have been found scattered on
mitridatite
(AJM 17.1.16-17).
At Llallagua, Bolivia, fluorapatite occurred as a gangue mineral in cassiterite
veins. Fluorapatite crystals have been found on quartz and
ferberite crystals in many vugs. Most fluorapatite is covered by a crust of
wavellite. Some crystals occur on a stannite
matrix associated with jeanbandyite. Crystals filled with fine
jamesonite needles have also been found
(Min Rec 37-2.134).
In the Bancroft area, Ontario, Canada, fluorapatite crystals up to 45 cm long have been found in the
calcite vein-dikes
(R&M 94.5.412) .
At the poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada, fluorapatite is exceptionally high in thorium content
(R&M 95.2.164-165).
At Girardville, Quebec, Canada, fluorapatite is rare in the calcite-carbonatite
vein. Typical parageneses include phlogopite,
ilmenite, orthoclase and
aegirine
(R&M 88-5.431).
At the Yates Prospect, Otter Lake, Quebec, Canada, it appears that fluorapatite is a
primary mineral
that crystallised from a carbonate melt
(R&M 94.3.274-275).
At the Wutong mine, Guangxi, China, fluorapatite is intimately associated with
rhodochrosite and fluorite
(Min Rec 42-6.540).
At Yaogangxian, Hunan, China, fluorapatite is associated with
arsenopyrite, bournonite,
boulangerite, stannite,
ferberite, chalcopyrite,
quartz and fluorite
(Min Rec 42-6.580-581 ).
At Diako, Kayes region, Mali, fluorapatite has been found with epidote and with
garnet
(Min Rec 42-3.243 ).
At Cerro de Mercado, Durango, Mexico, fluorapatite is found embedded in masses of
sepiolite with quartz and
chalcedony, and with augite crystals in
breccia
(Min Rec 42-5.477-484).
At Imilchil, Er Rachidia Province, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco, fluorapatite is found in hydrothermally altered
syenite and nepheline syenite
(R&M 90.244-256).
At Anemzi, Imilchil, Er Rachidia Province, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco, fluorapatite occurs with a wide rane of associated minerals,
including microcline, chlorite,
magnetite, titanite,
actinolite, stilbite,
arfvedsonite, calcite,
epidote, prehnite,
hematite and hedenbergite
(R&M 90.244-256).
At Alchuri, Shigar Valley, Northern Areas, Pakistan, fluorapatite occurs on druses of
clinozoisite, and commonly on beds of
actinolite, and occasionally with diopside or
epidote
(Min Rec 37-6.535).
At Ekaterinburg, Ural mountains, Russia, fluorapatite occurs in mica
schist with beryl variety emerald and
chrysoberyl
(Dana).
At Palabora, Limpopo Province, South Africa, fluorapatite is a major constituent occurring in some of the cavities,
associated with fluoborite and rarely with
fluorite
(R&M 92.5.438).
At Jumilla, Murcia, Spain, fluorapatite was found in andesite
tuff
(Dana).
In the Erongo, Namibia, miarolytic cavities fluorapatite is rare, but it has been found as crystals on
quartz and schorl
(Min Rec 37.5.402).
At the the Karo Mine, Block D, Merelani Hills, Arusha Region, Tanzania, fluorapatite is found which contains fluid
inclusions, some of which contain graphite crystals
(R&M 88.2.162 and 178-183).
At the Carrock mine, Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria, England, UK, fluorapatite crystals to 3 cm occur on a
muscovite and quartz matrix, and crystals embedded in
quartz with pyrite have been found
(C&S).
At Tyllau Mwyn, Drws-y-nant, Gwynedd, Wales, UK, fluorapatite has been found in
stilpnomelane - bearing calcite veins
(MW).
At Prenteg, Tremadog, Gwynedd, Wales, UK, fluorapatite forms crystals to 1.5 mm associated with
rutile, chamosite and
albite
(MW).
At the Moiliili Quarry, Honolulu, Oahu, Honolulu county, Hawaii, USA, fluorapatite forms thin, needlelike
crystals within cavities of nepheline basalt,
associated with augite and nepheline
(R&M 92.3.226).
At the Emmons pegmatite, Greenwood, Oxford county, Maine, USA, fluorapatite occurs as crystals to 3 cm. The best
crystals occur in vugs formed from alteration of beryl and on albite variety
cleavelandite and muscovite crystals in
miarolytic cavities. The fluorapatite is typically associated with bertrandite,
cookeite and Fe/Mn oxides after
siderite/rhodochrosite. The Emmons
pegmatite is an example of a highly evolved
boron-lithium-cesium-tantalum
enriched pegmatite
(R&M 94.6.507-508).
At the pegmatite at the Waisanen quarry, Greenwood, Oxford county, Maine, USA, fluorapatite occurs with a druse
of quartz prisms and rare oxidised pyrite cubes
on etched microcline and occasional muscovite
books. In some cases late stage albite appears as an overgrowth on the
microcline
(R&M 91-2.179-180).
At Acushnet Quarry, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA, fluorapatite has formed in an Alpine cleft. Hydrothermal fluids,
associated with orogenic metamorphism, often deposit characteristic minerals, including
apatite, in these clefts. The metamorphic rocks exposed in the Acushnet quarry are
a mixture of schist, gneiss and intruded
diorite. Fluorapatite is found here on a
chlorite-covered matrix, associated with K-feldspar variety
adularia, albite variety pericline,
calcite, epidote,
muscovite, quartz,
titanite, chabazite and
stilbite
(R&M 90.244-256)
At a small beryl-rich unnamed pegmatite at Dickinson county, Michigan, USA, the dike is
well zoned with a massive quartz core, surrounded by
beryl crystals, fluorapatite and
niobium-tantalum species
(R&M 90-5.446).
At the Chickering Mine, Walpole, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, USA, fluorapatite is found in cavities that
formed by the dissolution of elbaite and, to a lesser extent, by the alteration of
spodumene within a quartz matrix
(R&M 90-5.416).
At the Adirondack mountains, New York, USA, fluorapatite occurs with with magnetite
(Dana).
At the tourmaline locality at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence county, New York, USA,
fluorapatite occurs rarely, with diopside and
tremolite in pockets in
calc-silicate rock
(R&M 91.6.523).
At the Harder farm, Hammond, St Lawrence county, New York, USA, fluorapatite occurs in
calcite
(R&M 85.5.461).
At The Dafoe Property, Pierrepont, St Lawrence county, New York, USA, fluorapatite occurs abundantly on the surfaces of some
tourmaline crystals
(R&M 94.5.452-455).
At the Foote Mine, Kings Mountain, North Carolina, USA, fluorapatite is found as masses and crystals in unaltered
spodumene-bearing pegmatites, and also as a hydrothermal mineral along fractures and
in solution cavities throughout the pegmatites and surrounding country rocks. In the primary stage of mineralisation
microcline, quartz and
spodumene crystallised from the melt, with accessory fluorapatite,
chlorite, muscovite, and
pyrrhotite. The second stage was the hydrothermal alteration of the
primary pegmatite minerals included leaching of elements and their enrichment
in the hydrothermal fluids. The third stage was the precipitation of secondary
phosphate and silicate minerals, the most abundant of which was fluorapatite. Fluorapatite is most commonly found with
albite, fairfieldite and
bikitaite
(R&M 91-3.250-256).
At South Foster, Providence county, Rhode Island, USA, fluorapatite crystals have been found in a road cutting at the white
schoolhouse on the hill just west of the town. They are developed along a contact line between fine grained
granite and a small mass of crystalline
limestone, in small open cavities associated with
biotite and scapolite
(AM7.28)
At the Clay Canyon variscite mine, Fairfield, Utah, USA, fluorapatite has been found as microcrystals in cavities
cementing fragments of crandallite
(Min Rec 41-4.338).
At the Belvidere Mountain Asbestos Quarries, Lowell/Eden, Vermont, USA, fluorapatite is fairly common in
schist and gneiss. It occurs locally in
the chlorite rock, and in the amphibolite
it sporadically occurs as a relict mineral
(R&M 90-6.533).
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