Salta Province, Argentina

Crystalline system: Monoclinic. Associated minerals at locality: aphthitalite, borax, calcite, colemanite, gaylussite, glauberite, gypsum, halite, hanksite, inyoite, kurnakovite, nitratine, tincalconite, trona, and ulexite (KORBEL, P.; NOVÁK, M. Enciclopédia de Minerais, Livros e Livros: Lisboa, 2000, p. 133; PALACHE, C.; BERMAN, H.; FRONDEL, ...

4.7 x 4.7 x 2.7 cm. A gorgeous, sharp miniature with top lustre and extremely good form, with the 4 x 2.5 x 2.75 cm crystal perched on a natural pedestal of smaller rhombs. There is only a slight contact at the base; otherwise this is complete all around and 360! The Meyerhofferite exists as a network of discrete crystals penetrating the interior, ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

11.3 x 10.4 x 4.8 cm. This is my personal favorite of the lot, with sharp and VERY GEMMY, lustrous crystals to 4.5 cm perched atop matrix. The piece just sparkles with minute crystals all over the place. Very minor meyerhofferite threads are present, but only within the crystal cores and not on the outside of the crystals as with other pieces ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

5.7 x 4.1 x 3.1 cm. A razor-sharp crystal, to 3.5 cm on edge, and extremely impressive in person! One of my favorite miniatures here, this one LOOKS like it has a different crystal form almost, because of the sharp angular nature of its rhombohedral crystals, elongated steeply in one direction. A few gemmy, discrete Meyerhofferite crystals are ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

6.3 x 6.0 x 5.5 cm. A starkly geometric, sharp cluster of three larger crystals (to 5 cm) on matrix, presenting sharp faces, gemmy interiors, and excellent lustre on all sides, 360 degrees. There is some included matrix, which because of the stunning clarity of the crystals shows through here in the photos much more strongly than in person, ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

4.8 x 4.6 x 2.2 cm. A sharp, flattened, elongated 4.5 cm crystal is perched atop a smaller and matrix-included crystal here, making for a really nice display-quality miniature, showing off a free-floating inyoite atop!

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

6.4 x 4.5 x 3.8 cm. A SUPER SHARP crystal, 3.7 cm long on edge, with extraordinary gemminess and glassy lustre...this is perhaps the best single crystal in this quality in my lot, gram for gram. It is hard to judge from photos due to the clarity and lustre on some of these, but that is my opinion. It is not altered to Meyerhofferite but DOES have ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

9.2 x 7.3 x 5.2 cm. This specimen features a sharply formed 7 x 5 x 4 cm crystal on a natural pedestal of smaller crystals and matrix. It is one of the largest crystals of which I am aware, but does have aslight cleave on the right-hand side. It displays very nicely from the front, and is an excellent example of a huge version of this species. Now ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

12.0 x 7.8 x 6.5 cm. Inyoite is a RARE borate. This SUPERB CABINET specimen features HUGE, very glassy and zoned, pseudorhombic crystals that have preferential overgrowth on some crystal faces. The largest crystal is 4.0 cm! This magnificent piece comes from a recent, but small find in arid, high altitude valleys of Argentina.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

17.1 x 10.8 x 7.6 cm. Lustrous, Glassy, VERY GEMMY transparent crystals to 4.5 cm included slightly around the edges with discrete crystals of meyerhofferite for stark contrast. This is a superb large specimen with no damage, composed entirely of large crystals in aggregate!

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

8.5 x 6.9 x 3.7 cm. SHARP crystals to 4.5 cm, partially included by and altering to Meyerhofferite on their edges for a unique visual contrast to the cores, dominate either end of this beautiful matrix specimen. In person it is much less brown and more white and clear...but photos simply do not do these justice: these crystals are so clear, that ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

9.6 x 8.7 x 4.5 cm. A razor-sharp 9 x 8 x 3 cm crystal here is one of the largest of the lot and of the find, and it is partially invested with the Meyerhofferite I like because the growths inside create such a stark contrast to the enclosing clear inyoite crystal itself. As well, freestanding meyerhofferite (or perhaps ulexite?) crystals on one ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

5.1 x 4.1 x 3.8 cm. A sharp single crystal, excellent as a reference example for the find, complete all around, with some surface Meyerhofferite crystals but no alteration.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

6.0 x 5.1 x 3.3 cm. A sharp cluster of 3 crystals, elongated and gemmy. SHARP edges make it more dramatic in person. In the photos, you are looking right through to a bit of included matrix in the back, and to the included but discrete Meyerhofferite crystals that contrast sharply with their enclosing inyoite. The back face of the larger crystal, ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

Laminar, whitish translucent, up to 3 cm crystals. From Christian Rewitzer, in my personal systematic suite. Photo Simone Citon.

© Simone Citon

5.3 x 3.3 x 2.7 cm. A sharp, overall rectangular cluster with unusual and elongated crystals to 5 cm. The piece is complete all around, except for a small contact on the rear of the top termination, as shown. Large crystal!

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

7.0 x 5.5 x 4.8 cm. Inyoite is a RARE borate. This EXCELLENT and showy specimen features a sharp, 3.1 cm, very glassy and zoned, pseudorhombic crystal as the primary feature. This two-sided crystal is jauntily perched on the top or side of the specimen. The slight bruise, on one corner, is out of sight. This showy piece comes from a recent, but ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

9.3 x 8.5 x 8.2 cm. This fine inyoite specimen features a sharp, 5.2 cm, very glassy and zoned, pseudo-rhombic crystal as the primary feature. This four-sided crystal is perched on the top or side of the specimen. Crystals reach 6.5 cm.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

A cluster of huge inyoite crystals. It has started to alter in places to white meyerhofferite. X Joe Siefke specimen. The scale under the specimen is an inch with a rule at one cm.

© Rock Currier

Inyoite Weight: 257g rlh1176

8.2 x 5.3 x 4.8 cm. Unusually thin and elongated (but sharp!), gemmy, water-clear crystals to 3.5 cm on a shard of matrix, make this a dramatic piece. It is complete all around, though there is damage to one crystal on the backside. Minor Meyerhofferite association.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

9.5 x 7.7 x 5.4 cm. A sharp and aesthetic small cabinet piece with good size for most collectors, featuring razor-sharp gemmy crystals to clear you can look through to the matrix underneath. Some crystals, but only some, are invested or altering to meyerhofferite but I have no clue why the effect is more complete in two crystals and barely present ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

7.0 x 4.9 x 4.6 cm. An exceedingly GEMMY specimen showing an earlier inyoite layer with included brown matrix, inside. The largest crystal is 4 cm, and this is complete all around!

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

9.8 x 6.0 x 3.7 cm. Gemmy crystals on a stalk of matrix, culminating in a 2.5 cm sharp crystal right atop. Very elegant piece, overall.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

6.6 x 4.4 x 4.1 cm. A large, gemmy, SHARP, complete-all-around 5 cm crystal perched upon a natural pedestal! This is one of the more elegant of the specimens in the find, to my eye. Superb quality, more evidently gemmy in person!

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

14.5 x 10.8 x 7.8 cm. SHARP, gemmy crystals some of which on the left side have partially altered to or been included by meyerhofferite. A very sharp ridgeline of gemmy, transparent crystals to 4 cm tip-to-tip crowns the top and the crystals are complete around the backside, too.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

19.7 x 15.7 x 7.5 cm. A gorgeous, top quality 6 x 4 x 4 cm crystal is perched in the middle of a daisy chain of smaller crystals making their progression across the top of the specimen. The crystal is probably the single best crystal in this entire lot, and displays so nicely "aligned" for viewing as you see it. There is, unlike most in the lot, ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

5.9 x 4.4 x 3.8 cm. Inyoite is a rare borate. This fine specimen is dominated by a glassy, transparent, 4.4 x 2.8 x 1.9 cm, pseudorhombic crystal next to smaller inyoites on matrix. This is a fine, example with the large crystal being pristine. These specimens come from a recent (circa 2000), but small find in an arid, high altitude valley of ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

A cluster of sharp shiny white fairly transparent rhombohedral looking inyoite crystals up to about 3cm. Got the specimen in a large lot of similar specimens from Joe Siefke. The scale under the specimen is an inch with a rule at one cm.

© Rock Currier

A somewhat flattened rhombohedral looking brown coated crystal of inyoite. The crystal is transparent in places internally. X Joe Siefke specimen. The scale under the specimen is an inch with a rule at one cm.

© Rock Currier

Inyoite crystals.

Largest crystal is 2cm.

© Maurice de Graaf

Massive, 0.25 cm fragment. S232-01 Excalibur Mineral specimen.

© 2008, JGW

5 cm nodule. S193-21 Specimen courtesy of Excalibur Mineral Company.

© 2007, JGW

Size: 9.3 x 4.0 x 4.8 cm

17.7 x 9.2 x 8.1 cm. I am not sure if I can call this a pseudomorph or not?! It looks more like a biological infestation run amok, but it IS an alteration, somehow; and so I imagine this IS an alteration-pseudomorph. Perhaps 90% of the original inyoite has been here altered to meyerhofferite, so that the crystals are inyoite only in the minute ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

Yellowish, vitreous crystals up to 4 cm.

© Sandro Maggia

Sphalerite, Pyrite, Argentiferous Galena, Quartz. Specimen size: 5 x 3.3 x 3.2 cm. Collected in 90´s. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Cluster of colorless ameghinite crystals. Specimen 2.1 mm in length. Collection and photograph Norman King.

© Norman King

8 cm crystalline, specimen courtesy of Excalibur Mineral Company. S279-03

© 2007, JGW, courtesy of Photographic Guide to Mineral Species

dimension area mm. 4 x 4 photo and collection Luigi Chiappino

Garnet (Var: Almadine)Fe2+3Al2(SiO4)3: Cystals on Schist. Specimen Size: 6 x 4 x 1.5 cm. Individual crystals have 2.5 to 4 cm wide. From sector Río Colorado in the Sierra de Quilmes, at the west of Cafayate City, Salta, Argentina. Photo taken in 1972. Main mineralization: Quartz - Feldespar(Microcline-Plagioclase) - Mica (Muscovite) - ...

Pitchblende,Zeunerite, Metazeunerite included in Clay-Shale. It has registered an average of 6000 CPM on my Digital Geiger Counter. Collected in 1977. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Rivadavite. Specimen is from the collection of Vince Morgan (1974). Scale at bottom of image is an inch with a rule at one cm.

© Rock Currier

135 x 85 x 112 mm. Robert J. Nowakowski Mineral Collection.

© 2008, Joseph A. Freilich, LLC

Width of field 7.0 mm. Collection of and photo by Jesse Crawford. Compositing program CombineZP. Equipment Nikon D-100 digital camera on a homemade microscope. Powdered tincalconite on ezcurrite prisms.

© 2008 by Jesse Crawford

Kurnakovite: Mg B3 O3 (OH)5.5H2O Very nice individual crystal of 3 x 3 x 2.4 cm. Tincalayu Mine, Salar del Hombre Muerto, Province of Salta, Argentina. Chemical Analysis: MgO 14.56% B2O3 37.32% H20 48.21% Raúl Tauber Larry´s collection.

Obsidian altered to Perlite. Field view: 15 x 15 cm. Quebrada Rupasca, Los Andes Department, Province of Salta, Argentina.

Garnet(Var:Almadine). Garnet (Var: Almadine)Fe2+3Al2(SiO4)3: A lot of Cystals on Banded Schist. Specimen Size: 11 x 6 x 5 cm. Individual crystals have 1 to 1.5 mm. From sector Río Colorado in the Sierra de Quilmes, at the west of Cafayate City, Salta, Argentina. Main mineralization: Quartz - Feldspar (Microcline-Plagioclase) - Mica ...

Thorogummite - Thorite. Yellow Thorogummite on Thorite altered. Field View: 3 x 3 mm. From "Rangel" Mine, Sierra de Rangel, La Poma Department,Province of Salta, Argentina. Collected in 1978. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Thorite - Thorogummite. Black Glassy Thorite altering to Yellow Thorogummite. Specimen size: 2.4 x 1.5 x 1 cm. From "Ranquel" Mine, Sierra de Rangel, La Poma Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Collected in 1978. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Ezcurrite. Specimen is from the collection of Vince Morgan. Scale at bottom of image is an inch with a rule at one cm.

© Rock Currier

MesoCretacic Sandstone rich in Carnotite and Phosphuranylite. Specimen size: 18.5 x 13 x 4 cm. Collected in 70´s from "Los Berthos" Uranium Mine, La Poma- San Carlos District, San Carlos Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Part of Alan Criddle's contribution to the American Mineralogist paper on baumstarkite was omitted and deserves a wider audience. "The aramayoite pistol" To illustrate the effect of exposure to light on aramayoite, a composite of photomicrographs of a single grain is shown in this Figure. The first photograph is of the freshly polished ...

© Natural History Museum

Pyrite (Cu S2) Loose cubic crystal of 1 x 1 x 1 cm. San José Formation, Santa María Valley, near of new dirt road Tolombón(Salta) to Hualinchay (Tucumán), Tolombón District, Province of Salta, Argentina. Main Mineralization: Pyrite and Limonite pseudomophic of cubic Pyrite Crystals, loose and schist included. Collected in December ...

Hydroboracite. Specimen size: 9 x 8 x 3.5 cm. Collected in 2004. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Garnet (Var:Almadine): Fe2+3Al2(SiO4)3 Specimen Size: 2.5 x 2 x 1.5 cm. From sector Río Colorado in the Sierra de Quilmes, at the west of Cafayate City, Salta, Argentina. Photo taken in 1972. Main mineralization: Quartz - Feldespar(Microcline-Plagioclase) - Mica (Muscovite) - Tourmaline(Var: Schorl) - Garnet(Var: ...

RRUFF Project Specimen ID: R050157 Locality: Sijes, Salta, Argentina Source: Jim McGlasson Group of colorless tabular crystals

© Rruff Project

12.2 x 5.6 x 4.7 cm. A dramatic and beautiful, vertically oriented, floater cluster with crystals to 6 cm showing great lustre, translucency, and form.

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

Obsidian. Specimen size: 2.8 x 2 x 0.5 cm. From eastern slope of Sierra de Quilmes, Río Colorado Area, Cafayate Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Collected in 70´s. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Litofisa of Obsidian (var. Perlite) of the mine of the Quebrada of Quirón.

12.0 x 7.5 x 3.9 cm. Inyoite is a RARE borate. This is an EXCELLENT and showy two-sided CABINET specimen featuring a multitude of sharp, very glassy and zoned, pseudorhombic crystals to 6.3 cm! The sharp, two-sided crystals at each end are standouts. This showy piece comes from a recent, but small find in arid, high altitude valleys of Argentina ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

7.0 x 5.5 x 4.8 cm. Inyoite is a RARE borate. This EXCELLENT and showy specimen features a sharp, 3.1 cm, very glassy and zoned, pseudorhombic crystal as the primary feature. This two-sided crystal is jauntily perched on the top or side of the specimen. The slight bruise, on one corner, is out of sight. This showy piece comes from a recent, but ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

10.4 x 6.9 x 4.1 cm. A HUGE 8 x 6 x 2.5cm crystal that has to be among the largest and best for the species, that is beautifully invested by included meyerhofferite at one end. The result is a contrast between both texture and crystal form, with the enclosing inyoite itself. I know you could also be tempted to say its a jumbly mess but in person, ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com

Colemanite: Ca[B3O4(OH)3]·H2O Transparent crystals in druse. Specimen size: 7.5 x 5 x 5.7 cm Crystals size 1 to 2 mm. From Tincalayu Mine, Salar del Hombre Muerto, Province of Salta, Argentina. Collected in 2002. Raúl Tauber Larry´s collection.

Sandstones rich in Tyuyamunite. Specimens size: 3.2 x 2.3 x 1.3 cm and 3.4 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm. Collected in 70´s, from "Don Otto" Uranium Mine. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Set of Limonite crystals pseudomorph after cubic Pyrite, schists included. From San José Formation, Tolombón District, Santa María Valley, Cafayate Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Large pseudo-rhombohedron of inyoite on matrix of finer crystalline mass of inyoite and light brownish-gray silt and clay. The larger crystal is transparent in places, but matrix material extends through the majority of it (and can be seen in the interior of the crystal). Tiny scattered crystals of transparent meyerhofferite occur across the ...

© Norman King

Beautiful added of radiating crystals of Millerite with Pyrite and Quartz. Specimen size: 5.2 x 4 x 4 cm. From La Niquelina Mine, Rodeo de Tuctuca, Santa Victoria Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Anfititre volcanic glass (black obsidiane) surrounded by Perlite.

Beautiful addition of stalactitic sulphur. Specimen size: 17 x 8.5 x 7 cm. From Sulphur Deposit of Socompa Volcano, Los Andes Department, Argentina. Just in the border between Argentina-Chile. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Field of view 1.5 cm.

© Leon Hupperichs

Beautiful addition of bipyramidal crystals of sulphur. FOV: 6.5 x 5.5 cm. From Julia Mine, Province of Salta, Argentina. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

Manganes Oxides on sandstone. Specimen size: 4.7 x 2.2 x 6.5(in depth) cm. From San José Formation, Tolombón District, Santa María Valley, Cafayate Department, Province of Salta, Argentina. Collected in 2011. Raúl Jorge Tauber Larry´s collection.

7.5 x 7.0 x 5.2 cm. Inyoite is a rare borate. A sharply geometric specimen of two, gemmy and lustrous, pseudo-rhombic inyoite crystals are embedded in a much larger crystal. The inyoite crystals are preferentially encrusted on selective faces with snow-white meyerhofferite crystals, a nice accent. These specimens come from a recent, but small find ...

© Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com