Celestite (Celestine)

9"/22.8cm long
6"/15.2cm wide 

Weight
4.396Kg

Images show One Specimen at 
different view points

Description

Large Celestite/Celestine Geode, with pale Blue (bluish grey) transparent Mineral/Crystal, with fantastic lustre. Celestite Geodes are extremely popular for decorative purposes, and also Mineral/Crystal enthusiast, with a good number available on the market, however, such Large examples such as this Geode are more difficult to find and obtain, due to the lack of discoveries.

Celestite/Celestine Information

The Crystal system of Celestite/Celestine is Orthorhombic, the crystals are either tubular or prismatic, resembling Baryte; also fibrous or granular. Colourless to faint bluish white; sometimes reddish-transparent to translucent, streak of white, with vitreous lustre. The name is taken from the Latin Celestis, meaning Celestial, and alludes to the pale blue colour of many crystals.

Chemical Formula

SrSO4

Common Name

Celestite

Other Nomenclature

Celestine

Geological Age

Limestone formation and sandy greywacke of the Danien Stage; Jurassic Period, approximately 65 million years ago

Location

Sakoany deposit, Katsepy Commune, Mitsinjo District, Boeny Region, Mahajanga (Majunga) Province, Madagascar

Occurrences

Celestite/Celestine occurs in sedimentary rocks, particularly dolomite, as cavity linings associated with Baryte, Gypsum, Halite, Anhydrite in evaporate deposits. It is often associated with Sulphur, both in the sedimentary environment and also in volcanic areas. It also occurs as a gangue Mineral in hydrothermal veins with galena and sphalerite, and it forms concretionary masses in clay and marl.

Celestine Bearing Layer Information (Madagascar)

A famous locality that has produced tons of magnificent Celestite/Celestine specimens, It is located near the village of Sakoany, on the western side of the banks of the Betsiboka River (where it empties into the Bombetoka Bay), at the northwestern coast of Madagascar. It is further located about 12km south of Katsepy, the nearest administrative centre.

The Celestine-bearing layer is found in a maximum 30m thick lens between layers of limestones and sandy greywacke of the Danien Stage (Jurassic Period; 65 MYA). The Celestite/Celestine occurs mainly as two different types : as geodes in varying sizes (Ratsimabazafy -1973) reported a geode about 60cm in diameter and weighed 54kg), and as crystal clusters up to 15cm in diameter. The yearly production is about 15tons (Pezzotta 1999).

The Celestite/Celestine was first discovered in 1967 and the diggings started first very close to the seashore. Later it was moved some hundreds meters away to a higher level (+ 15m). The locality consists of numerous small, irregular up to 15m deep holes in the ground.