Fedotovite (incredibly rare)

Item Description

Here we have a rarely seen cabinet sized specimen of the incredibly rare potassium copper sulfate mineral, Fedotovite, named after Russian volcanologist and seismologist, Sergei Fedotov. The mineral was first discovered at the Great Fissure eruption site in the Tolbachik Volcanic Field of Kamchatka, Russia. The entry for this area on mindat.org states that it is the type locality for 133 mineral species, which is an incredibly high number for any locality. Nearly HALF of all those species were found in the Arsenatnaya Fumarole in the Northern Breakthrough (North Breach) alone. I don't know if the historically large lava eruption of 1975 (which is referred to as known as "The Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption") was responsible for so many new minerals being found at this site, but it seems that many of the new minerals described from this area were reported after the big eruption took place, and a lot of them in the past decade or so. Typically when it comes to rare minerals, especially more recently discovered species, you don't typically get cabinet sized display pieces, which is what makes this piece so enticing. It is filled with rich green colored micro crystals of Fedotovite, sitting on porous matrix. We've photographed the piece with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. Don't miss out on this big impressive example of this extremely rare mineral species, which has only been found in ONE other locality outside of the Tolbachik Volcanic Field. From the collection of Colin Manlove.