Latitude: 27°21'39"S
Longitude: 53°10'55"W
"The world's amethyst capital".
The genesis of amethyst geodes in basalts (Serra Geral Formation) at Ametista do Sul, Brazil, is considered as a two-stage process with an early magmatic protogeode formation and a late, low temperature infill of the cavity.
The municipality of Ametista do Sul and the little town with the same name are undoubtedly the world's capitol of amethyst, at least in terms of current production. At any one time there are probably a substantially greater tonnage of amethyst in Soledade than in Ametista because that is the commercial town where most of the amethyst and agate and other stones are sold. The production from the mines at Ametista do Sul does not hang around the town or the mines very long before being sold and hauled off to Soledade. The town used to be called Sao Gabriel and the quickest way to get there from Soledade was to take a fairy across the river and of course the roads were not paved.
The amethyst mines are just on the edge of town line a little valley where at a small distance from the bottom of the valley they can be seen as a line of horizontal black holes near the valley floor. The amethyst is mined from a flat laying layer basalt that is rich in amethyst and the mining method is simply to punch tunnels into the basalt parallel to each other and mine out the amethyst geodes that are encountered in the mining process.
[Rock Currier 2011]
References
- Mineralium Deposita (2003) 38 (8), 1009-1025
- Mossmann, D. J., Ehrman, J. M., Brüning, R., Semple, L. & Groat, L.A. (2009): "Skunk calcite". Mineral Paragenesis in an amethyst geode from Ametista, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Mineralogical Record. 40:121-125
Mineral List
8 entries listed. 6 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. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders
for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.
Mineral and Locality Search
