Gemstone hunting in Finnish Carelia

Last Sunday, we participated in the spring excursion of the Finnish Gemstone Hobbyists’ Society (Suomen Jalokiviharrastajain Yhdistys) to a spectrolite quarry near Ylämaa in Finnish Carelia. Spectrolite is a variety of labradorite, which shows a rich iridescense. The Finnish spectrolite is peculiar because of its dark base color. Strictly speaking, the term "spectrolite" applies to the Finnish variety of iridescent labratorite only. The trip was a success as we returned tired and with many kilograms of specimens.