Size:
10.5 x 10 x 6.5 cm
Weight:
890 grams or 2 pounds
Location:
Zagi Mountain Region, Pakistan
This Zagi Quartz was mined in 2007 and is the perfect rough for producing gorgeous cabochons! There is such a huge diversity of Quartz in Pakistan. We became obsessed for a few years working with a contact in Peshawar to try and develop new and unknown areas for finding ground breaking and breath taking Quartzes. Zagi Mountain is by far one of the most interesting mineral localities in the world. It contains a geological wealth of rare earth minerals. Within the Quartz kingdom, Zagi is extremely unusual and diverse. The majority of the crystals found here are not complete crystals, but rather, have a C-axis that is parallel to the wall in which they grew, thus creating what we like to call "half crystals". It is not impossible to find complete crystals. They are just not as common as crystals that are found with the back attached to the wall. The number of inclusions within Quartz at Zagi is tremendous, and equally, the colors that we find are fantastic! Many of the minerals found included in Quartz here oh our site are as follow: Aegerine, Riebeckite, Rutile, Astrophyllite, Bastnaesite, trace elements of Yttrium, and surely several others that have not been identified. We have seen at least 4 different colors of Rutile (orange, silver, gold, and red). Astrophyllite looks like yellow straw. Aegerine is black, and Riebeckite is black and/or blue. We have only seen 1 crystal with Bastnaesite included (a brown color). We imagine that there exists at least one crystal included by Xenotime Y, and possible other rare earth minerals, but have yet to see any. One of the most interesting features of the Quartz from Zagi is the various shapes and crystallography. Often times the C-axis is difficult to discern, and rare do we find an elongated C-axis that is greater than 3 times the A or B axis. Many times we find "floaters" in this area that are double terminated and complete. Some of which are self-healed crystals which broke from the host rock and re-healed while still underground. Some of the choicest quartzes from Zagi are small floater clusters with magnificent brilliant coloring. Others contain so many mineral inclusions that they are difficult to identify.
