MINERALYON 2010 – 12, 13 & 14 November

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the 35th annual mineral fair held in the city of Lyon, France. The show is, perhaps, not as well-known as it might be, but is very much worth a visit with some 4 to 5,000 visitors over the three days and some 70 exhibitors, mostly from France, but with a sprinkling of dealers from Africa, Asia, South America – and even one from Australia. The show is a friendly affair covering minerals, gems and fossils with a lot of mineral specimen for all purses, from beginners’ pieces at prices affordable by schoolchildren to a good number of high-end specimens for the fastidious!

Lyon is a city founded in 43 BC by a lieutenant of Julius Caesar called Lucius Munatius Plancus, but the site hag already been occupied since at least Neolithic times. It is sited at the confluence of two large rivers, the Saone and the Rhône with two rocky hills that were part of a prehistoric ridge-way trade route. In historical times the one hill carried the ecclesiastic centres of the town and the other was occupied by the master silk workers; the Lyonnais still talk of “The hill that prays and the Hill that works”… In Lyon one can see vestiges of continuous occupation covering all the time from 43 BC to today, and in 1998,UNESCO named it a World Heritage site. It is also famous for its food and wine – In Lyon; we say the city has three rivers, not two: the Rhône, the Saone and the Beaujolais wine! So, if you are tempted to come to MineraLyon one day, there will be plenty of other activities to enjoy as well… To find out more, I suggest you consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon.



The show is held in a conference centre next to a big natural park called La Tête d’Or, and here we see visitors with a group of schoolchildren waiting to enter early on Friday morning. Once inside, the reception was friendly and helpful and the entry fee modest (5 Euros). Inside, there is a large hall for the exhibitors, still quite empty early on Friday, but which filled up nicely as time went by. One of the first stands is that of the show organiser, Mr J-M Laverrière, helped by his indefatigable mother, who must be our senior exhibitor.



For me, a strong point of Mineralyon is the presence of numerous French exhibitors who have much to offer across a wide range of interests. A favourite stand of mine is held by Mr W. Peraud who has lots of photocopy paper boxes filled with a huge selection of micromounts in their little plastic boxes. I can willingly spend hours poring over these treasures – and I have never left him without a few “musts” for the systematic collection.



Another of my favourite stands is “Melikaria” run by P. Pailleret who had some big, brutal Siderites with small clear Quartz prisms from Vizille in the Isère, France.



The fossil lovers amongst us were not forgotten, and I appreciated the stand of North African fossils at “Merveilles du Désert” with some fascinating Moroccan trilobites.



Back to minerals, with a lovely display of high-end specimens from a wide range of localities offered by “Astier Mineraux”.

Another stand with some very attractive quality pieces, but also a range of low-cost but good items for the less well-heeled, is “Merveilles de la Terre” run by Mr and Mrs Cabrol of Grenoble, France. There were also, as one would expect, some lovely classics offered by F. Lietard, for instance, this impressive Moroccan Vanadinite…



In the entry hall there were several showcases of collections shown by different individuals on the themes: “French Fluorite from less-well-known localities” from A. Martaud; “Memories of Andalousite” by M. Boudard; “Pyromorphite” from A. Tuel; “A year of prospecting” from P. Clavel; “All found by myself!” from F. Rose; and “Fossil Stromatolites” from G. Alias. All very interesting, and I had to make a choice or overwhelm Mindat with my ‘snaps’ – so here goes for the Fluorite.


Alain Martaud wrote a little preface, which I have translated (as best I can) :

French Fluorites from Less-Well-Known Localities.

With these showcases, I would like to share with you my passion for an extraordinary mineral: Fluorite. For a change, I have chosen to show you here some specimens of Fluorite from the less-well-known localities …. You will therefore not see specimens from our famous localities like Le Bure, Le Beix, La Barre, Valzergues, Mont Blanc, Langeac, Fonsante, Chaillac, Montroc, Maine, Peyrebrune or Puy Saint Gulmier. Due to space restrictions, other major localities are not represented either, although their crystals are less familiar, like Foische, Chavagnac-Lafayette, Maxonchamp, Bergheim, Lavellan, Lantigné, Saint Peray, Arbouet, Dufort, Largentolle or Voltennes. Finally I have not presented many other sites, either because I do not own a suitable specimen (Sewen, Néris etc.), or because the sites have never produced attractive crystals (Paris, Escaro, etc.).

I hope you enjoy discovering these localities and your visit here.

P.S. I have had the good fortune, with a little help from my friends, to collect the specimens marked with a coloured spot on the label.


Alain Martaud


It was very instructive to see a whole lot of lovely fluorite specimens from places that I had often not even heard about!

I also found a few of the new Baryte crystals from La Mure (Isère, France) as reported in my previous text about the L’Arbresle show, but they seem to be disappearing fast!



From abroad I would like to mention the stand run by Mr & Mrs Antunes Ferreira, who presented an impressive suite of minerals from Panasqueira, Portugal with specimens ranging from ‘beginner’s pieces’ to some lovely groups. I was very attracted to this 2 x 1.5 cm zoned Apatite at the foot of an about 15 cm Quartz crystal – still I can’t have all I want, can I?



Another friendly and helpful exhibitor was Mr Mahmadou from “Mali’s Minerals” with a selection of material from Djouga (Kayes region, Mali).

To round off, I would like you to see some Brazilian specimens from “Minéraux d’Ailleurs”, with some gynormous Anhydrites from Irai (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). The piece shown is over 45 cms across and 40 cms high… Nice classical big Quartz with ‘Tourmaline’ and ‘Lepidolite’; big blue Quartz crystals;


; a tempting specimen with clear Baryte crystals of a blue quartz matrix, and a recent find of small sky-blue apatites, usually as druses of small crystals accompanied by Albite (‘Clevelandite’), ‘Tourmaline’, ‘Lepidolite’, Quartz, and sometimes Bertrandite, but sometimes also occurring as large isolated crystals on an albite matrix.



I spent the most part of the three days of the exhibition wandering from stand to stand, meeting a warm welcome everywhere and sharing cups of coffee (and glasses of wine) with friends at the bar/buffer section. I enjoyed some of the conferences on various geological and mineralogical topics, but I was not among the lucky winners of Friday evening’s tombola for some 50 desirable specimens. Pity – still I enjoyed myself greatly and would love to welcome some mindaters here next year. We might even be able to arrange for a gastronomic meal somewhere???

Happy hunting and best wishes

Tim