{"title":"Mali","description":"\u003cp\u003eMali's mineral wealth is concentrated in the southwest, within the \u003cstrong\u003eKayes Region\u003c\/strong\u003e, a rugged corner of the West African Craton where ancient greenstone belts and skarn horizons have produced some of the continent's most collectible specimens. Around \u003cstrong\u003eDiakon\u003c\/strong\u003e and neighboring localities in \u003cstrong\u003eBafoulabé Cercle\u003c\/strong\u003e, small skarn deposits formed at the contact between intrusive rock and metamorphosed limestone, generating the assemblage of calc-silicate minerals for which the country is best known internationally among mineral and gem collectors alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe signature find from this ground is the so-called \u003cstrong\u003eMali garnet\u003c\/strong\u003e, an unusual member of the \u003cstrong\u003egrossular\u003c\/strong\u003e–\u003cstrong\u003eandradite\u003c\/strong\u003e series first reported in 1914 and rediscovered in commercial quantity in 1994; crystals range from pale green and honey-yellow through vivid \"demantoid-like\" green to lustrous black andradite, often recovered as large, waterworn alluvial nodules that must be broken open to reveal gem-grade cores. Associated with the garnet are fine specimens of \u003cstrong\u003eprehnite\u003c\/strong\u003e, frequently forming pale green botryoidal crusts alongside sprays of \u003cstrong\u003estilbite\u003c\/strong\u003e, plus platy, pistachio-green \u003cstrong\u003eepidote\u003c\/strong\u003e crystals, all reported from workings around \u003cstrong\u003eSandaré\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eMatia\u003c\/strong\u003e in \u003cstrong\u003eNioro du Sahel Cercle\u003c\/strong\u003e, and from further diggings scattered through the \u003cstrong\u003eKéniéba\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eKayes cercles\u003c\/strong\u003e. Lustrous dogtooth \u003cstrong\u003ecalcite\u003c\/strong\u003e is another notable Malian export, often found in association with these skarn and vein assemblages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeyond the skarn belt, Mali is also a significant gold-producing country, with orogenic gold deposits worked at the \u003cstrong\u003eLoulo Mining District\u003c\/strong\u003e and the \u003cstrong\u003eSadiola Mine\u003c\/strong\u003e, both in Kayes Region, occasionally yielding mineralized quartz and sulfide specimens of interest to systematic collectors. Because access to the remote Kayes deposits is difficult and much of the best garnet and prehnite material stems from historic mining rather than ongoing production, genuine Malian specimens remain relatively scarce on the international market. Collectors prize them for their unusual garnet chemistry straddling the grossular-andradite boundary, their striking color range, and the rarity of well-crystallized calc-silicate combinations from this little-explored stretch of West Africa.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/www.italmineral.com\/collections\/mali.oembed","provider":"ITALMINERAL","version":"1.0","type":"link"}