PHOSPHATE MINERALS IN VICTORIAN GRANITIC ROCKS

Colour-zoned fluorapaptite crystals from Lake Boga Granite, Quarry, Victoria

While granitic rocks are very widespread in Victoria only a few localities have yielded phosphate minerals. Just over half of the 50 phosphate minerals known from Victoria occur in granitic rocks. Two of the best localities are the Lake Boga granite quarry and the Wycheproof granite quarry both located in northwest Victoria. At Lake Boga an unusual suite of pegmatite and secondary phosphates occur in the granite. Lake Boga is the type locality for the mineral ulrichite. At Wycheproof an unusal suite of zirconium-bearing phosphates has been recorded from pegmatite veins. Two new species have recently been identified, wycheproofite and selwynite.

Species recorded from granitic rocks in Victoria include: autunite, cacoxenite, chalcosiderite, crandalite, cyrilovite, eosphorite, fluorapatite, heterosite, kidwellite, kosnarite, leucophosphite, libethenite, meta-autunite, meta-torbernite, monazite-(Ce), pseudomalachite, rockbridgeite, saleeite, sampleite, torbernite, turquoise, ulrichite, wardite, wavellite, wycheproofite and xenotime-(Y).

Here is a selection of minerals from Lake Boga and Wycheproof

Fluorapatite
Fluorapatite	Sampleite	Ulrichite
Selwynite	Wycheproofite	Kosnarite