Ivigtut was the World's only mine for Cryolite, used as a solvent of Bauxite in aluminum production and before that to produce opaline glass. The mine closed several times in the 1960s, 70s & 80s but production continued - dumps were dug out, the mine reopened to excavate low-grade ore and finally the pier, made from 'waste rock', was removed and processed.
Most of the interesting sulphides are known from small spots in polished ore sections (Galena is good!). In Cryolite only Pyrite, Galena, Sphalerite and Chalcopyrite are common. Molybdenite chiefly occur in the host rock, enclosing the Cryolite ore body.
Ivigtut Myths
Ivigtut is a spectacular source of rare minerals, and optimistic identifications and myths abound. Cryolite crystals are for all practical purposes rarely available - they were collected long time ago and everybody wants them. Virtually all specimens came from two, large pockets. By far most of the 'Cryolite crystals' I see are Thomsenolite, Pachnolite, Ralstonite or something of their ilk, subject to optimistic interpretation. Incidentally, Thomsenolite does occur as parallel grown very large pseudo-cubic crystals and/or crystals with strong basal cleavage that make good Cryolite impersonations!
Particularly European dealers in the 1980s offered Prosopite crystals, more often than not accompanied by assurances they had been 'x-rayed' and were thus correctly identified. Bogus! Most - most, but not all! - of these are microscopic crystals of Ralstonite, coating the interior of druses in massive blue Prosopite. Obviously, if you remove the interior of a druse with a dental drill, and look for Prosopite on your x-ray, you are going to find ... Prosopite! This comes from the matrix, not the crystals. Prosopite crystals are quite rare, invariably 'flattened six-sided' (say, like a double arrow head), whereas Ralstonite is cubic (and in this association, usually octahedral).
Villiaumite ... when I see this, I usually just walk away from the perpetrator. Villiaumite is sodium fluoride, comes from Greenland, and thus must be from Ivigtut 'where all the fluorides come from.' I doubt anybody would accept a claim of Benitoite [from Gem Mine, San Benito Co., California] coming the Stewart Mine near Pala, San Diego Co. [lithium pegmatite with Tourmaline] merely because both produce interesting silicates ? In Greenland, Villiaumite occurs exclusively at Kvanefjeld in the Ilimaussaq alkaline intrusion near Narssaq ... a bit further than San Diego Co. is from San Benito Co.
(Claus Hedegaard 081207)
References:
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Mineral List:94 entries listed. 83 valid minerals. 17 type localities (valid minerals).
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