Calcite, Dolomite

This specimen is covered in light pink saddled dolomite crystals, featuring a scattering of nearly tabular scalenohedral calcite crystals. It is a fine specimen from a long-closed mine and displays well.

The Sainte-Clotilde quarry (formerly Marcil quarry) near the village of Sainte-Clotilde-De-Châteauguay in Montérégie, Québec, is now unfortunately closed to collectors. The quarry operated between 1980 and 2008 in dolomitic limestone (Beekmantown Formation). Superb calcite and quartz specimens were found in large cavities in the 1990s, but the quarry was also known for pyrite, chalcopyrite, anatase, sphalerite, barite, and some secondary copper minerals.

Many specimens from this locality fluoresce nicely under UV light, with calcite typically showing its best response under longwave. On some specimens, including this one, the dolomite shows a very weak pink response under longwave UV.