One of the rock piles on the site.

This photo was taken on October 26, 2011. It shows one of the numerous rock piles which can be prospected for minerals. There are hundreds of boulders, some of fairly large size, many bearing calcite veins which are host to minerals.

On that day, decent specimens of well-formed pyrochlore and latrappite (or perovskite ?) were found, within severely weathered veins of calcite.

The crumbly calcite matrix on which the minerals are found makes it difficult to obtain specimens other than loose, small (less than 5 mm) crystals. With caution, crystals on matrix can be brought home where a collagen of some sort could be used to maintain the calcite grains together.

Also, ill-defined crystals of magnetite up to 2 cm were found.

J.Y. Lamoureux

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Photo added: 2nd Dec 2011