Formula: Ca₃SO₄Al₂F₈(OH)₂ · 2H₂O

Species:

Colour: white, violet, purple, colourless, orange; colourless in transmitted light.

Lustre: Vitreous

Hardness: 4

Specific Gravity: 2.713 – 2.73

Crystal System: Monoclinic

Name: After the type locality, in the Creede quadrangle, Colorado.

Type Locality: Colorado Fluorspar Company Mine, Wagon Wheel Gap, Mineral County, Colorado – USA

A complex aluminium salt. Compare the chemically related chukhrovite-(Ca) and kruijenite.

The Navidad (Rodeo) Mine is second to none in terms of quality and production on a worldwide scale. This piece is a fantastic example of the newer material that has come out featuring a few radial “bursts” of beautiful orange colored, “sword”-shaped crystals measuring up to 1.0 cm long. It should be noted that some of the crystals have a lighter hue, and range to nearly colorless / white in areas. The wonderful and rarely seen orange color does not get the credit it deserves as these specimens might still be too fresh on the market, but one day they will go down as some of the most important specimens found in Mexico in the last few decades.