Ranunculite — Kobokobo Pegmatite, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (Micromount)

Type Locality — Ex Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale (Tervuren), Deliens Attribution, Catalogued.

There are rare minerals, and then there is ranunculite.

Ranunculite — a hydrated aluminum uranyl hydroxide phosphate — is among the most obscure and seldom-encountered species in the entire uranium mineral suite. It was first described from the Kobokobo pegmatite in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making this the type locality, and meaningful specimens in private hands are extraordinarily uncommon. This is a micromount, but in ranunculite, a micromount from Kobokobo is as good as it gets.

What elevates this piece to an entirely different tier is its institutional provenance. The Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale in Tervuren, Belgium — one of the world's foremost repositories of Central African geological material, with collections built over more than a century of systematic scientific acquisition — held this specimen in its mineralogical collection. The attribution to Michel Deliens is significant: Deliens was one of the leading authorities on uranium mineralogy in the latter half of the 20th century, responsible for describing and characterizing numerous species from the Congo deposits, and his identification carries the weight of genuine expert determination. A catalogue number accompanies the piece, providing the institutional paper trail that separates verified museum deaccessions from mere claims of provenance.

Type locality. Tervuren museum deaccession. Deliens attribution. Catalogued. For a species as rare as ranunculite, this is the complete package — the kind of provenance combination that appears once in a collecting lifetime.

Approx. specimen activity on an SE International Ranger EXP: 400 CPM

Specimen is mounted in a 1" micromount box with museum label.