Sandaré, Sandaré Commune, Nioro du Sahel Cercle, Kayes Region, Malii

Regional Level Types
Sandaré	Village
Sandaré Commune	Commune
Nioro du Sahel Cercle	Cercle
Kayes Region	Region
Mali	Country

This locality is probably in error, particularly with respect to the typical prehnite balls on epidote groups which are found most commonly near the villages of Bendougou and Diako south of the main road connecting Dakar, Senegal and Bamako, Mali. Sandaré is a stop on the main road and a collection point for prehnite and epidote found further south in the adjacent Cercle de Bafoulabé. There are diggings for garnet and veusvianite about 2 km east of Sandaré.

Note added by Demetrius Pohl August 2014.

See also the following posting from 22 June 2022 by Demetrius Pohl (https://www.mindat.org/mesg-597287.html):

"Searching in Mindat for Prehnite in Mali I found a large number of images of prehnite and prehnite epidote combinations attributed to the Sandaré locality. The area around Sandaré is known for yellow and black garnets, and brown and green vesuvianites often of considerable size, but not prehnite. The confusion stems from the fact that Sandaré, on RN1 the main road between Dakar and Bamako is at the junction of the appallingly bad track (RR1) that heads south through Bendougou (Bindougou), Diakon, Madiawaya, Oussoubidiagna, all villages with nearby prehnite and garnet diggings. Thus, it became the collection point of minerals from the back country for transport to the capital, Bamako. The first discoveries of green gem garnet in 1994 were attributed to Sandaré when in fact they came from some 50 km to the south. The confusion was compounded by the prehnite dealers in Bamako, who themselves did not know the origin of the material they were handling. Around 2001 the geological survey of Mali made an effort to map and locate the known garnet and prehnite producing areas and published a report with maps and GPS coordinates of many localities in 2003. In 2006 and 2007 I was able to visit many of the diggings and in the years since then have able to verify several new localities.

Pale, blue-green prehnite with "clamshell" overgrowths and acicular inclusions of amphibole attributed to Sandaré are in fact from Matia, near Yelimane, Nioro du Sahel circle, Kayes Region, Mali.

All other, more apple green prehnites with prismatic to tabular dark green epidotes could come from a number of diggings, but all would be within Commune Diakon, Bafoulabé circle, Kayes Region, Mali.

Maiga, D., Diarra, O., Keita, M., Dembele, D., et al., (2003), “Projet Pierres Precieuses et Semi Precieuses, Rapport de Fin de Campagne 2002-2003, 186p

Currier, R.H., and Pohl, D.C., 2011. Mineral collecting in Mali. Mineralogical Record, v42, n3, p231-250"

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References