Calcite, France

Click here to view Best Minerals Calcite and here to view Best Minerals C and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.


Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?

Calcite
CaCO₃ trigonal

Here will go a good picture of a calcite specimen from France and general remarks about the calcite from this country. Here are some url's to some of the better French calcite specimens here on Mindat that can be considered for inclusion in the article. These, in most cases are just for temporary use until we can get images of the much better specimens that are almost certainly out there. We should also consider that there are probably localities out there with fine specimens that are not even mentioned on Mindat. Also in some instances there are sometimes pictures on Mindat, of specimens from a locality, but they were so ratty that I did not include them here, but there may also be really good specimens from there that we should talk about in this article.

Calcite
France

Gabe Gottes Mine (incl. Giftgrube), Ste Marie-aux-Mines

(Markirch), Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France
[www.mindat.org]

Ludwig Mine, Ste Marie-aux-Mines (Markirch), Haut-Rhin,

Alsace, France
[www.mindat.org]


Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Aquitaine, France
[www.mindat.org]


Omyat Quarry, Chepy, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]

Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France
[www.mindat.org]

Trèves mine, Fournels valley, Trèves, Gard,

Languedoc-Roussillon, France
[www.mindat.org]


Rivet quarry, Peyrebrune, Réalmont, Tarn, Midi-Pyrénées,

France
[www.mindat.org]

Glageon Quarry (Le Cailloit Quarry), Avesnes sur Helpe,

Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]

Haut-Lieu Quarry (Godin Quarry), Avesnes sur Helpe,

Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]

Allos area, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte

d'Azur, France
[www.mindat.org]

Eyguians, Laragne-Montéglin, Hautes-Alpes,

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
[www.mindat.org]


Saint-André d'Embrun, Hautes-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte

d'Azur, France
[www.mindat.org]


L'Enfer ravine, Les Belleville valley, Tarentaise

valley, Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France
[www.mindat.org]



Click here to view Best Minerals Calcite and here to view Best Minerals C and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2010 05:55AM by Rock Currier.

Hi Rock,

I loaded another specimen from Ste. Marie.
Just take a look and if you can use it, just go ahead.

Here it is : [www.mindat.org]

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

Paul, Sure we can use that one. What we really need is someone to tackle the writing of French calcites. It will probably be a long time before I get around to doing it and I would never do as good a job as someone specifically interested in French minerals.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Fantastic Rock, I am happy and honored to help.

I will contact a few French collectors and ask them if they want or can help.

I keep you informad.

Warmest regards.

Paul.

OK Paul, Ill take that as a yes. The first thing you should do is to go through all the French Calcite specimens in Mindat and select those you want to use and the localities you want to write about. Don't worry too much about missing some because if you do it is more than likely that others will come along and point out the errors of your ways. You can also make notes about what localities you need better pictures from because you or others know about so much better specimens that can be photographed. In this format, it is not difficult to switch out inferior photos for better ones when they become available. Then write up something about French calcites in general and which are the best localities. Then list all the localities below that and write about the ones you know and chase information about those you don't. Then bring in the images and adjust their sizes and arrange them in an artistic manner and make their captions and their size in the captions. Once you learn how you will see it is not all that hard.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Hi Rock,

Thank you for the reply and that you use my picture(s)

Here a few more, all from Ste Marie-aux-Mines but from other mines.

[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]
[www.mindat.org]

Concerning the article, it will be more difficult. In my message I wrote that I will ask some people to see if they can help.
From France, I'm only collecting Ste Marie-aux-Mines intensively but never prospected in the mines.
What I can do is to observe closely the association of the few specimens I have and give it a try to write that down.
Anyway, I will do my best.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

My outlook is not running well so I use the forum to give you some help.
I don't have so beautifull specimens than you from Ste Marie aux mines, it's a pleasure to see it all !
In this east french area are four other locations for this mineral: Durlinsdorf, Tagolsheim, Altkirch (Haut Rhin county) and Argiesans (Belfort territory).
All those are quarry works and I think that you could find more informations in the Jean Luc Hohl book.
In Argesians quarry calcite is in association with fluorite into Corall fossil cavities.
Sometime there are pyrite or sphalerite with.
In the fluorite best minerals forum I'd posted some pictures last time.
I have a specimen from lorraine country but not the exact location.
All that I know is the town near the site: Thionville.
Here is Thionville specimens picture and I'm sure that french poeple could give the good locality name!
I'll send you picture of Tagolsheim crystals ASAP directly in mindat.
Altkirch specimens are reative with UV light long wave a little.

Rock, how could I add a locality now? "Altkirch, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France" is not in the mindat data.

Have a nice week end, Thierry

Salut Thierry,

Merci pour ton message et que tu apprécie mes pièces de Ste. Marie.

J'ai crée la localité pour toi.

Amicalement.

Paul.

Ok Paul and Thanks.
Altkirch calcite picture are loaded.

Est-ce normal que je ne puisse pas ajouter de sites sur mindat?

A+, Thierry

Hello Rock, Paul and Thierry.

I am the proud owner of calcites published on the sites:
= Je suis l'heureux propriétaire des calcites publiées sur les sites :
* Glageon Quarry (Le Cailloit Quarry), Avesnes sur Helpe
* Haut-Lieu Quarry (Godin Quarry), Avesnes sur Helpe
I can not provide additional information on these calcites and sites
= Je ne peux pas apporter d'informations supplémentaires sur ces calcites et sur les sites.
I collected these specimens between the years 1975 and 2005.
= J'ai collecté ces specimens entre les années 1975 et 2005.
Now these sites are prohibited from prospecting.
= Maintenant ces sites sont interdits de prospections.
The north of France and the south of Belgium are very rich career providing good specimens of calcite.
= Le nord de la France et le sud de la Belgique sont très riches en carrières donnant de bons specimens de calcite.
I think a lot of very good specimens are in private collections.
= Je penses que beaucoup de très bons specimens sont dans des collections privées.
But there are relatively few collectors that show pictures of their specimens.
= Mais il y a assez peu de collectionneur qui montrent des photos de leurs specimens.
Over time, the photos probably get more...
= Avec le temps, les photos arriverons probablement plus nombreuses...
I still have a few interesting specimens posting mindat
= J'ai encore quelques specimens intéréssants à poster sur mindat.
But the best specimens are on the site.
= Mais les meilleurs specimens sont déjà sur le site.
Sincerely.
= Bien cordialement.
Jean Marie

I have a piece I purchased from Dave Bunk years back from "Dauphine". That's it for locality. I've been trying to get a better locality ID, and would appreciate any help offered. It is approx 9 X 8 X 6 cm

This one comes from an undisclosed locality near Anduze:

[www.mindat.org]

I got the specimen from a French collector who sold his calcite collection at the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show a couple of years ago. He told us that this was from one-time find which produced only a limited number of specimens.

This one was in the collection of Jean Chervet (-> chervetite). Note the not so common twin:

[www.mindat.org]

I bought it from Alain Carion around 1994-95 when I was living at Gif-sur-Yvette. The locality is long extinct; the finds date back several decades.

Peter,
I sure like the first image in your post. I tend to go for images that show the entire specimen. There are so many threads like this one that need work and I don't know when I will be able to get around to working on it or with someone to whip it into shape. Am currently photoshoping several thousand images that I have taken at various localities on my travels and when that is done I will start to upload them bit by bit hopefully interspersed with working on articles like this one with hopefully a lot of help from friends and knowledgeable collectors.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.