Hochelagaite

This specimen hosts delicate sprays of hochelagaite, a rare sodium–zirconium silicate species known almost exclusively from the Mont Saint-Hilaire alkaline complex, its type and principal locality. Within a small vuggy cavity on the matrix, numerous tiny acicular white tufts of hochelagaite can be seen radiating in bloom-like aggregates, a typical but seldom-seen crystal habit for this species. Hochelagaite is a true Mont Saint-Hilaire rarity, usually forming only as microscopic, late-stage phases in highly evolved pegmatitic and hydrothermal environments. This is a classic example of hochelagaite’s subtle yet distinctive occurrence from one of the world’s most renowned mineralogical localities.