Newfoundland — The Type Locality of Labradorite
Newfoundland — The Type Locality of Labradorite
Paul's Island off the Labrador coast, where labradorite was first described in 1770 and the species took its name
Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost Canadian province, is most significant in coloured-stone reference as the type locality of labradorite, the calcium-sodium plagioclase feldspar that displays the broad-spectrum iridescent play-of-colour known as labradorescence. The first European description of labradorite came from Moravian missionaries operating among the Inuit communities of the Labrador coast in 1770, who reported a stone of remarkable optical character to mineralogical correspondents in Europe. The original specimens came from Paul's Island, a small island off the Labrador coast in the Nain region, and the species was named after the Labrador coast in 1780. The original Paul's Island deposit is now largely exhausted, but the locality retains its position as the type locality of one of the most popular feldspars in jewellery and lapidary use, and the name labradorite is permanently bound to the geography of the province.
Geological setting
The Labrador coast in the vicinity of Nain is part of the Nain Plutonic Suite, a Mesoproterozoic anorthosite complex emplaced approximately 1.3 billion years ago. Anorthosite — a coarse-grained plutonic rock composed almost entirely of plagioclase feldspar — is the principal host of labradorite-bearing material globally, and the Nain anorthosite is one of the classical type examples of the rock type. The labradorite occurs as coarse plagioclase grains within the anorthosite, with grain sizes typically several centimetres and occasionally substantially larger.
The labradorescence in the Newfoundland material — like the labradorescence in plagioclase from any source — arises from light scattering at the boundaries of submicroscopic exsolution lamellae within the feldspar. The plagioclase, originally homogeneous in composition, exsolves on cooling into alternating lamellae of calcium-rich and sodium-rich plagioclase, and the lamellar boundaries scatter visible light at wavelengths determined by the lamellar spacing. The Newfoundland material typically shows blue, gold, and green dominant labradorescence, with the full spectrum visible in the best material.
Historical and cultural significance
Beyond its position as the type locality of the species, Labrador labradorite has cultural significance for the Inuit communities of the region. The stone is incorporated into Inuit oral tradition as the source of the aurora borealis: the lights of the northern sky are said to be reflections of light trapped within the stones along the coast, and the material has a place in regional storytelling and identity that predates the European naming of the species.
The colonial-era discovery and subsequent mineralogical description introduced the material to European markets in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and labradorite from Newfoundland was used in occasional European jewellery and decorative work during the period. The supply was always small, the geographic remoteness of the source limited extraction, and the trade was supplemented and ultimately replaced by labradorite from larger deposits discovered subsequently in Madagascar, Finland (the spectrolite variety), Russia, and elsewhere.
Other Newfoundland gem occurrences
Newfoundland and Labrador has minor production of other gem species. Garnet, principally almandine and almandine-pyrope, occurs in metamorphic rocks of the Long Range Mountains and elsewhere. Quartz crystals of mineralogical interest occur in various pegmatite and hydrothermal localities, with smoky quartz and amethyst reported from a number of sites. Agate, jasper, and labradorite-quartz combinations occur in the volcanic and sedimentary rocks of various locations across the province.
The province is also the source of a small quantity of carved soapstone (steatite) for traditional Inuit carving, and the region's mineral resources include substantial volumes of industrial mineral commodities — iron ore from the Labrador Trough, nickel from Voisey's Bay — that are commercially important but unrelated to the gem trade.
The contemporary labradorite market
Newfoundland labradorite occupies a small position in the contemporary global labradorite market. The bulk of commercial labradorite supply comes from Madagascar — the Toliara region in the south — and from Finland (where the spectrolite variety with strong red, orange, and green labradorescence is particularly prized). Russian, Indian, and Mexican production supplement the supply. Newfoundland material is not generally a price-defining force in the global market, but it carries a small premium in specialist collector and lapidary contexts on the strength of its position as the type locality.
For contemporary buyers, labradorite from Madagascar or Finland is the most likely source of any commercially traded material, and Newfoundland-specific provenance is generally a function of dealer specialisation and direct connections to small-scale Canadian production rather than of widespread market availability.
In the trade
For coloured-stone reference and historical purposes, Newfoundland is permanently associated with labradorite as the type locality. For practical commercial purposes, the buyer encountering labradorite in the trade should expect Madagascan or Finnish material as the default, with Newfoundland-specific labradorite available principally through specialised dealers and at small premiums. The cultural and historical significance of the type locality is sustained by mineralogical literature, museum collections including the Royal Ontario Museum and the Smithsonian, and a steady though modest collector following.