This cluster of milky-white Quartz points conceals one of mineralogy's most coveted inclusions, Ajoite, suspended within the crystal matrix.
Ajoite is a rare Hydrated Potassium Sodium Copper Aluminium Silicate, and while it was first described from the Ajo district of Arizona, from which it takes its name, the finest specimens ever documented originate from a single source: the Messina Copper Mine in Limpopo, South Africa. The mine closed permanently in 1992. No comparable replacement locality has since emerged. Every specimen of Messina Ajoite in Quartz that exists in the world today was extracted before that date, making the total available supply not merely finite but fixed.
The mineral forms exclusively as inclusions within Quartz at this locality, rarely occurring as free crystals, which means the quartz host is not incidental, it is the delivery mechanism. What remains in circulation is what remains.
