Atacamite

I was fortunate to meet a geologist at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Main show (we have a 30 foot booth there). Apparently he was in Chile around 1979 and had collected a number of fine Atacamite specimens at the LA Farola mine. One thing lead to another and I found myself in the parking lot, in front of his trunk filled with about 80 brilliantly green examples of Atacamites! This represented his entire collection of them, as his children were not interested.  I bought the entire lot on the spot and happily returned to my booth. I have seen very few of these on the market over the years, and felt excited to now have so many fine examples.

Atacamite is a copper halide mineral that is relatively uncommon. Most pieces on the market come from Australia and are more solid and less sparkly. Atacamites from the type locality in the Atacama desert of Chile can have beautiful acicular sprays, and occasionally form on a layer of Chrysocholla. 

This piece was shown to me by the geologist as "the best piece," in his opinion. It shows beuatiful acicular sprays of Atacamite, with Gypsum, white phosphate, and small mysterious green balls. He speculated these are Lebethanite but I think they may be Brochantite, but I have not been able to confirm this yet. They could be a different crystallization of Atacamite. Regardless this piece has everything and is visually stunning as the rich green is pleasantly framed by the white minerals.