Epistolite is a rare mineral, known only from the Ilimaussaq complex in Greenland, the Lovozero Massif on the Kola Peninsula, and MSH and nearby Demix-Varennes quarry in Québec. Euhedral crystals are known, but, apart from the well formed micro-crystals from the Demix-Varennes quarry, most specimens consist of anhedral plates.

The first photo (FOV 6.8 x 3.8 mm) shows about half of the total extent (13 mm) of epistolite on the specimen. This sample of epistolite is fairly typical for MSH, except that it  retains some of the yellow color of vuonnemite (which is almost always the precursor of epistolite). However, it does not fluoresce.  At MSH, the lack of fluorescence is a reliable indicator for epistolite vs vuonnemite. Perhaps there is relict vuonemmite, but not sufficient to show a UV response.

The epistolite is associated with sphalerite and a bit of “eudyalite, neither of which is significant. They are shown just for completeness.

Most of the sphalerite is etched and/or broken. The most interesting crystals are shown in the second and third photos (FOV 4.4 x 5.9 mm). The habit is a “stretch” tetrahedron, which is a bit unusual. The crystals are partly embedded. About 2.6 mm of the crystal on the right is visible. Internally, the sphalerite is dark yellow-green and brown.

As for the “eudialyte”, there is only one small crystal (ca 1.7 mm) that is not broken. This is shown in the next pair of photos (FOV 4.2 x 4.5 mm). It is partly embedded in glassy, massive sodlaite which fluoresces moderately bright orange (LW) as shown in the next pair of photos.

Note: The specimen has sawn areas on two sides. One of these can be seen on the left in the last full-view photos.

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