This is a specimen with a rather unusual combination of rare minerals: franconite, thomasclarkite-(Y) and colorless nenadkevichite. Small but interesting. However, you will need 15-30X to view this stuff.
The first photo (FOV 4.3 x 4.8 mm) shows small, but very pretty, franconite puff balls to about 0.6 mm. The brown rhombs are siderite. At the center and bottom of the right side of this photo are some very small yellow crystals of thomasclarkite-(Y). (There is also a third, slightly smaller, group of very sharply formed crystals, but, in the photo, this group is obscured by franconite.)
A close-up the right-center group is shown in the second photo. The two main crystals are only about 0.6 mm (total). You will need 30-40X to see the crystals as in that photo. But MSH is the type and only known locality for thomasclarkite-(Y).
Some of the franconite and thomasclarkite actually sit on bundles of colorless nenadkevichite laths. An isolated nenadkevichite lath about 0.6 mm long is shown at the center of the third photo. The “flat chisel” habit is one of the typical habits for nenadkevichite at MSH. (Nenadkevichite is orthorhombic.) But colorless crystals are quite unusual. These were confirmed on another specimen at Laurentian University.
Supposedly franconite at MSH can be reliably distinguished from hochelagaite by its yellow SW UV response. I think I see a weak yellow response on this specimen, but it’s hard to be sure because of the small size. But not to worry. In my experience, hochelagaite is much less common than franconite at MSH. So maybe you are getting a bonus.
Found 7/95.
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