Abellaíta
Abellaíta is a mineral with formula NaPb₂(CO₃)₂(OH), in the Carbonatos group. This specimen comes from Mina Eureka (Galería C), Castell-estaó, Lleida, Catalunya, España and joined the Terrium collection in 2010.
Description
Tabular microcrystals of abellaite (nacreous, whitish to pearl grey) on dark barite matrix. The coating is thin but continuous, with vitreous to silky lustre, allowing the species to be identified with the naked eye. Consistent with the type material (holotype) deposited in museums.
History of this specimen
It belongs to the "Original Series" limited to 60 specimens that Joan Abella numbered and hand-labelled after the discovery. It is a genuine historical document, certified as no. 18/60, and it includes the exact find coordinates on the reverse. Its pedigree is exceptional: it went from the discoverer’s personal collection to that of Burton Ford (Georgia, USA), a legend of systematic collecting who assembled more than 4,000 species (70% of those recognised by the IMA). After Ford died in 2025, the piece was recovered by Persson Rare Minerals and later acquired by me, completing a round trip back to the type locality with full traceability.
About Abellaíta
At the age of eleven, Joan Abella hoped that one day a mineral would bear his name; the material that led to it appeared as a bright "snail slime" in Eureka Mine, a uranium labyrinth closed since the 1960s. The find, made with masks amid radon gas, had no official funding and progressed through a collaborative "chain of favours" led by his close colleague Dr Joan Viñals, who died during the scientific work. The IMA approved abellaite in 2015. It was the first mineral species discovered in Catalonia: an extremely rare sodium–lead hydroxycarbonate that can neoform within c. 40 years from the interaction of meteoric waters with primary sulphides on gallery walls.
About the locality
Eureka Mine is a recognised mineralogical locality. In Gallery C, a humid, carbonate-rich environment enabled a crystallisation unique worldwide. Although possible abellaite has been cited elsewhere, Eureka is the type locality and the definitive reference.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0279
- Composition
- NaPb₂(CO₃)₂(OH)
- Name
- Abellaíta
- Group
- Carbonatos
- Category
- Meritum Persé
- Matrix
- Matriz barítica limonítica
- Mine
- Mina Eureka (Galería C)
- District / Municipality
- Castell-estaó
- Province
- Lleida
- Region
- Catalunya
- Country
- España
- Size (cm)
- 2.4 x 2 x 1
- Weight
- 3.2 g
- Acquired
- 2010
- Ex-collection
- Joan Abella > Burton Ford > Persson Rare Minerals
- Etymology
- Named in honour of Joan Abella i Creus (b. 1968), a mineralogist from Sabadell who discovered the species and has devoted his life to the study of Eureka Mine.
- Quality
- Top
- Value trend
- Al alza
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