Svanbergite : SrAl₃(PO₄)(SO₄)(OH)₆, Dolomite : CaMg(CO₃)₂, Fersmite : (Ca,Ce,Na)(Nb,Ta,Ti)₂(O,OH,F)₆
Mount Brussilof mine, Radium Hot Springs, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canada

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minID: 5VV-LPY

Svanbergite : SrAl₃(PO₄)(SO₄)(OH)₆, Dolomite : CaMg(CO₃)₂, Fersmite : (Ca,Ce,Na)(Nb,Ta,Ti)₂(O,OH,F)₆

This image is copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Locality: ⓘ Mount Brussilof mine (Bay Mag Mine), Radium Hot Springs, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canada

The sample is 6 cm x 6 cm.

The orange coloured Svanbergite and brown coloured, fluorescent Fersmite occur on gemmy, colourless, twinned Dolomite. According to George Simandl of the B.C. Geological Survey the Svanbergite was found in a very small area, about the size of a large desk, that was completely excavated. It had a unique mineralogy that has not been found elsewhere in the deposit.

This photo has been shown 207 times

Photo added:	8th Nov 2011
Dimensions:	2272x1704px (3.87 megapixels)
Camera:	NIKON E4300

Data Identifiers

Mindat Photo ID:	423550 📋 (quote this with any query about this photo)
Long-form Identifier:	mindat:1:4:423550:4 📋
GUID:	1e5ed69d-a0a1-4fce-b611-63dda8641555 📋
Specimen MinID	5VV-LPY (note: this is not unique to this photo, it is unique to the specimen)

View Richard Gunter's Photos View Svanbergite Gallery

Discuss this Photo

PhotosSvanbergite - Mount Brussilof mine, Radium Hot Springs, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canada

31st Dec 2018 18:09 UTCRichard Gunter Expert

The new Mineralogical Record article on Oberdorf am der Laming has an interesting chapter on the geology of these massive magnesite deposits. The deposit at Oberdorf and the magnesite deposit at Mount Brussilof in British Columbia and very similar with massive, coarse-grained white magnesite developed from pre-existing sedimentary dolomite in an Alpine setting. Many of the textures described in the M.R. article have corresponding textures at Mount Brusiloff.

The one significant difference is the strontium species. Mount Brussilof has only svanbergite in dolomite cavities while Oberdorf has strontianite and celestine. I do not know what the difference in Eh/pH is to make one suite stable over the other. Does anyone else have ideas?

31st Dec 2018 20:52 UTCFrank K. Mazdab 🌟 Manager

While it's certainly possible that chemical differences such as Eh or pH may play a role (and these effects can be manifested at the deposit-scale or even on the cm-scale), another possibility is simply that there's a slight difference in the original bulk rock composition, as the svanbergite-bearing sample would have needed a source of P (presumably pre-existing apatite) and Al (perhaps pre-existing clay minerals). Of course, just as with externally-imposed chemical differences, slight differences in bulk rock composition need not be limited to the deposit-scale level, and it is perhaps (dare I say even likely) that a more exhaustive search of both localities will uncover that all three minerals may indeed be present at both localities, albeit in locally restricted zones that minerals collectors may not be fully privy to yet.

31st Dec 2018 20:54 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Could it be a temperature difference? Higher temp at the Mount Brussilof deposit?

31st Dec 2018 21:06 UTCRichard Gunter Expert

Hi Frank and Alfredo:

P and Al are present in both deposits so it is not a chemical variation that is the key here. It may be that these minerals may be found in both deposits but Oberdorf has been well studied and Sr is a contaminant in Mount Brussilof ore so its presence would be detected quickly and no strontianite or celestine has been found to date.

Alfredo: I will check the temperature of Mount Brussilof to see what I can find. It would surprise me if it was related to temperature as so many other phases from the two deposits are equivalent.

31st Dec 2018 21:32 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

It is very common to find significant differences in chemistry on a local scale. That is why species are not always evenly distributed in a given deposit. In other words the absence or presence of a particular species is not entirely dependent on the overall chemistry of the deposit. The same applies to temp. and pressure.

31st Dec 2018 22:24 UTCFrank K. Mazdab 🌟 Manager

As Reiner re-iterated, it's not the elements that are present... it's the distribution of those elements that matters.

Also, in a deposit that's essentially all magnesium carbonate, I'd imagine the composition of any hydrothermal fluid would be strongly buffered with respect to pH, so that parameter may be the one factor nearly identical in both deposits (although noting that this pH would depend on T, with the T-path likely differing at both localities). Likewise, as Sr is present in both localities, it seems almost unfathomable that in a sea of carbonate there would be no SrCO₃ present. I might even expect strontianite an alteration of svanbergite within this high carbonate environment. That it's not reported I suspect is more of a human issue than a nature issue.

Another factor may be where was the Sr originally before the deposits were converted from dolomite to magnesite? If it was hosted in a Sr-rich apatite, then maybe svanbergite would have been locally favored? If Sr largely occurred as just a low-level impurity in the original calcite/dolomite, then even with the same general fluids and the same general chemistry, there might still end up different mineralogies.

Ultimately, every deposit is unique, even ones ostensibly similar, and it may not always be possible to pin down what that uniqueness stem from; Franklin is different from Sterling Hill, and they're even neighbors! It is the physio-chemical parameters, the intensive parameters that show up in thermodynamic equations (the T, the P, the activities of a host of elements and chemical species), super-imposed on a variety of complex and usually inhomogeneous bulk compositions, that give us the diversity of minerals and feed our collecting passions.

31st Dec 2018 23:20 UTCRichard Gunter Expert

Hi Alfredo:

Marshall et al. (2004 Ind. Minerals Forum) gives the temperature and pressure of formation of Mount Brussilof of 195oC to 304oC and 2650 bars of pressure; equivalent to burial at 8 kilometers. They used fluid inclusion data. I have a copy of the paper if you would like to read it.

Hi Reiner and Frank:

I agree with the variability of species and Franklin/Sterling Hill variability has buffaloed many mineralogists. My note was concerning the variability of only one phase/set of phases when all of the other parameters were equivalent. It may well be the chemistry of the starting phase, as Frank has suggested, but both deposits are in platform carbonate horizons and I did not think Sr-apatite occurred in that environment. It may not be possible to pin down but it does seem unusual.

There appears to be no alteration of svanbergite in any samples I have seen. The carbonate-lined cavities at Mount Brussilof are pristine and the only alteration I have noted is the coating of some of the pyrite crystals with limonite. Svanbergite, a few sulphosalts and minor fersmite are later than the quartz, dolomite and magnesite.

At Mount Brussilof the magnesite and secondary dolomite occur in distinctly different crystal shapes. Magnesite occurs as flattened, blade-shaped crystals with pronounced striations. Dolomite crystals are rhombohedral, sometimes twinned and often gemmy. Even in the pseudomorph after primary dolomite by a mixture of small dolomite and magnesite crystals the two crystal shapes are quite distinctive.

2nd Jan 2019 15:10 UTCGregg Little 🌟

"but both deposits are in platform carbonate horizons".....

The original distribution of phosphorous and aluminium could be strongly controlled by biological processes and the depositional environment energy level. This could exert strong spacial controls on mineral distribution.

2nd Jan 2019 15:45 UTCRichard Gunter Expert

Hi Greg:

There are so many differences possible it is a surprise that the two deposits are so similar. There are a number of these massive magnesite deposits in the immediate vicinity of Mount Brussilof. Only one has been mined and has the data density needed for comparison with the Austrian deposit.

and/or

Svanbergite : SrAl3(PO4)(SO4)(OH)6, Dolomite : CaMg(CO3)2, Fersmite : (Ca,Ce,Na)(Nb,Ta,Ti)2(O,OH,F)6Mount Brussilof mine, Radium Hot Springs, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canada