I’ve added some great new French specimens in this France Update. Several are recently-collected from the Mésage Mine, Saint-Pierre-de-Mésage, Isère, France, along with a bournonite from Saint-Laurent-le-Minier and a gem-clear calcite from Pau, Aquitane.

Every summer, for a few days, the quiet town of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines transforms into a bustling mineral and gem extravaganza. This is the most beautiful major mineral show setting, and attending is a great experience. This year’s show included some excellent minerals, including some great new finds.

Excellent new specimens from Mont Saint-Hilaire. The specimens in this update are from finds 1988-2007. This selection of specimens represents several different unique finds, including beautiful serandites, terminated elpidite crystals, twinned rhodochrosite, sodalite var. hackmanite, narsarsukite, leucophanite, analcime and more.

I’ve posted a small group of excellent specimens in the new Russia Update. These include beautiful high-quality crystals of axinite-(Fe) from two localites, intense blue azurite balls and sharp copper crystals from the Rubstovskoe Mine, great calcite crystals from the Dal’negorsk district and more.

I’ve added a few excellent new specimens in this Morocco Update. This update includes some particularly fine and unusual pieces – some are rather colourful!

I’ve posted a new Brazil Update with superb, diverse specimens, including a spectacular morganite, remarkable new synchysites, blue montebrasite, pleochroic uvite, elbaite, brazilianite, hydroxylherderite and more.

This Malawi Update features a small number of selected, different, specimens from well-known Mount Malosa (the world’s top locality for fine aegirine crystals), and two super aegirine crystals from a recent find at the Mulanje Massif, over 100 km to the south of Mount Malosa.

Just north of Lake Superior, the Thunder Bay District of Ontario is world famous for its distinctive, ancient amethyst crystals. Thunder Bay amethyst is remarkable for its variety – it occurs in all shades of purple and it is often further coloured by red hematite inclusions, the classic look of Thunder Bay amethyst. It is a long journey to the amethyst mines of the Thunder Bay District, and hopefully this article will bring this beautiful region, its history, geology, mines and collecting experience a bit closer!

The new China Update features selected fine specimens – beautiful fluorite crystals of different colours and crystal habits (and some great phantoms), pyromorphite, golden barite, spessartine garnet and more.

New from South Africa, excellent specimens of inesite from a small recent find, a fantastic ettringite/hematite specimen, and gorgeous green fluorites from Riemvasmaak.

This Morocco Update includes excellent specimens of several minerals, including blue barite from the Sidi Lahcen Mine, fluorapatite from Imilchil, fluorite from Sidi Ayed and Tounfit, cobaltoan dolomite from the Agoudal Mine, and more.

This Brazil Update features a few selected excellent pieces from Brazil, from the unusual to the amazing. The update includes two remarkable brazilianite specimens from the closed Telirio Mine, a classic Medina aquamarine, a fantastic rutilated quartz from Novo Horizonte, tourmalines, Sapo fluorapatites, a super Brumado dolomite, blue quartz, and a Novo Horizonte hematite that is a black mirror.