“Spot the Rock” September 11, 2014

Time for another round of “Spot the Rock”! You might think these photos seem faded or have altered colors, but that’s actually the mineral’s appearance at this site! Can you tell us what mineral is pictured?

For those that know the answer, take the super “Spot the Rock” challenge and tell us the one place in Utah this mineral is found, or what causes the texture in some of the pieces (shown in the close-up photo).

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UPDATE: Answer revealed!
How many of you knew what mineral was shown in last week’s “Spot the Rock”, or where the spectacular purple mineral is located? It looks like we only had one correct guess—it is fluorite! However, fluorite in this area can also be found in various shades of white, blue, green, buff, yellow, and reddish-brown, dependent upon the presence of various trace elements.The fluorite pictured is located at Bell Hill mine, at the south end of Spor Mountain, Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah.

The textures seen in the close-up picture are fossil corals.

Ore from the Bell Hill mine only contains trace amount Beryllium (0.004% to 0.002%) and no visible bertrandite (bertrandite is a beryllium bearing mineral found at the Brush Wellman mine about a mile to the west).