NARSARSUKITE

Narsarsukite is a rare sodium titanium iron silicate fluoride discovered in 1901, and named after the Narssârssuk pegmatite, Narsaarsuk Plateau, Igaliku, Kujalleq, Greenland but which was subsequently, in the 1960s, found in much better crystals at Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, Canada. This small miniature specimen displays a classic tetragonal Narsarsukite crystal, 6 mm scross, sunk into the surface of a small piece of rock matrix from Mont Saint-Hilaire. This crystal is unusually dark coloured, for a species which is normally pale sulphur-yellow in colour, but shows an incredibly smooth glossy surface. The rest of the crystal is hidden from view inside the rock, but this one crystal face is very fine indeed.