Here's a specimen of beautiful blue green APATITE from the famous Panasquiera Mine in Panasqueira, Covilha, Castelo Branco District, Portugal. The classic apatites from Panasqueira are world famous for their extraordinary sharpness and gemmy clarity. This is a fantastic specimen that we recently purchased from a Portuguese dealer at the Tucson Gem, Rock & Mineral Show.

The Panasqueira mine is an underground mine that has a long history of production of high-quality wolframite concentrates and is the dominant producer of high-grade tungsten concentrates outside China. In 2007, the mine owners opened a new section of the mine, an area that was originally developed many years ago, but was never brought into production. Investment in new equipment and in developing this new area assure a continued supply of the highly coveted apatite crystals from Panasqueira.