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Les Montmins Mine (Ste Barbe vein), Échassières, Ébreuil, Allier, Auvergne, France

(Mine des Montmins (Filon Ste Barbe), Échassières, Ébreuil, Allier, Auvergne, France)

Early 20th century tungsten mine, working wolframite-bearing quartz veins hosted by micaceous slates and granite. Located about 3 km NE of Echassières.
Famous for a wealth of well-crystallised secondary oxysalt minerals (mainly phosphates and arsenates).


NOTE on the published mineral photos:
- The photo of "mawbyite" published in Boisson et al. (2000) most probably shows a carminite. Single-crystal XRD studies of crystals with identical shape showed them to be carminite (Uwe Kolitsch, unpublished results).
- The dufrénites shown in the locality photo gallery here on Mindat may in part be natrodufrénite (probably none of them has been analysed (semi-)quantitatively).



References:
- Aubert, G. (1969): Les coupoles granitiques de Montebras et d'Echassières (Massif Central Français) et la genèse de leurs minéralisations en étain, lithium, tungstène et béryllium. Mémoires du BRGM N°46, 345 pp.
- Walenta, K. & Binder, W. (1980): Kidwellit und Dufrenit aus den Mines de Montmins bei Echassiéres (französisches Zentralmassiv). Aufschluss 31, 51-54.
- Boisson, J.-M., Leydet, J.-C., Queneau, P., Revel, C. & Valverde, J. (2000): Filon Sainte-Barbe, Commune d'Echassières (Allier, France). Le Cahier des Micromonteurs, No. 4, 3-46. (in French)
- Cuchet, S., Brugger, J., Meisser, N., Ansermet, S. & Chiappero, P.-J. (2000): Les minéraux du filon Sainte-Barbe, Les Montmins, Allier. Le Règne Minéral, (33), 5-25. (in French) http://www.strahlen.org/magspublic/lrm/lrm-2000-0506-05-frankrijk-allier-montmins.pdf]
- Mestrom, P. (2009): De mineralen van Les Montmins: klein maar fijn. GEA, 42 (1), 10-14.
- Kolitsch, U., Gröbner, J. & Brandstätter, F. (2009): Neufunde von Les Montmins, Allier, Frankreich. Lapis 34 (11), 24-32; 54 (in German).

- http://www.strahlen.org/vp/fr/montmins/montmins.htm





Map Reference: 46°11'55"N , 2°57'50"E

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Mineral List:
Acanthite
Aheylite ?
Albite
'Albite-Anorthite Series'
Andalusite
Anglesite
Antlerite
'Apatite'
Apatite-(CaF)
Apatite-(CaOH)
var: Carbonate-rich Apatite-(CaOH)

Arsenbrackebuschite
Arseniosiderite
Arsenopyrite
Arsentsumebite
'Asphaltum'
Autunite
Bariopharmacosiderite
Baryte
Bayldonite
Beraunite
Bergenite
Beryl
Biotite
Bismite
Bismuth
Bornite
Brochantite
Bromargyrite
Cacoxenite
Carminite
Carnotite
Cassiterite
Cerussite
Chalcopyrite
Chalcosiderite
Churchite-(Y)
Copper
Cordierite
Corkite
Coronadite
Covellite
Crandallite
'Crandallite Subgroup'
Cryptomelane
Curienite
Cyrilovite
Dewindtite
Dufrénite
Dumontite
Elyite
Ferberite
Fluellite
Fluorite
Francevillite
Freibergite
Galena
Gartrellite
Goethite
Gold
Gorceixite
Greenockite
Gypsum
Heinrichite
Hematite
Hinsdalite
Hollandite
Hübnerite
Iodargyrite
Jarosite
Jixianite
Kaolinite
Kasolite
Kidwellite
Kintoreite
Langite
Leadhillite
Lepidolite
Leucophosphite
Linarite
Malachite
Marcasite
Mawbyite
Metatorbernite
Meurigite-K
Microcline
Mimetite
Mitridatite
Molybdenite
Muscovite
Natrodufrénite
Natrojarosite
Parsonsite
Perhamite
Pharmacosiderite
Phosphosiderite
Plumbogummite
Pyrite
Pyromorphite
Pyrrhotite
Quartz
Raspite
Reichenbachite
Robertsite
Scorodite
Segnitite
Silver
Sphalerite
Stannite
Stolzite
Strengite
Sulphur
Tantalite
Thometzekite
Topaz
Torbernite
'Tourmaline'
Tsumebite
Turquoise
'Unnamed (Pb-U-Al Phosphate)'
Uranocircite
Uranophane
Uranotungstite
Vanadinite
Variscite
Vivianite
Wavellite
Wolframite
Zircon


128 entries listed. 117 valid minerals.

The above list contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database!
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