Fluorapatite, Calcite and Fluorite from Broken Hill

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Type: Mineral samples
Place: Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Materials: Mineral - non specific
Collection: AG Smith collection
Accession number: 1982.0102.0288

Description

A specimen of fluorapatite, calcite and fluorite.

Originally labelled as Apatite from Broken Hill. Title changed in 2020 to 'Apatitie in Bustamite and Calcite from Broken Hill' on advice from Penny Williamson (see file 20/714). In 2025 Paul Carr advised: "Specimen NMA 1982-0102-0288; GA R30092 labelled as Apatite in bustamite and calcite. The pink/brown material has often been identified as bustamite but is almost certainly fluorite. A simple way to check is to use short wave ultraviolet light – if bustamite it will not react but fluorite fluoresces white. I have pasted below a photo of another Smith specimen to show what happens. It consists of a broken, dark bluish-green fluorapatite crystal with inclusions of fluorite and calcite, photographed in visible light (left) and SW UV (right) where the fluorapatite shows minimal response, the fluorite is white, and the calcite is red." (see file 20/714, D25/14252 for image) Title changed to 'Fluorapatite, Calcite and Fluorite from Broken Hill' 4 August 2025 (see file 20/714, D25/14275)

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:51:33 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-08-20. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.