Reviews
3" Columnar Calcite Crystals on Pyrite and Quartz - Fluorescent!
This is a cluster of gorgeous, double-terminated columnar calcite crystals over pyrite, quartz, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite, collected from the Huanzala Mine in Áncash, Peru. Under shortwave UV, the calcite crystals fluoresce a vibrant pink-orange color and even display some short-lived phosphorescence!
The specimen has been mounted to an acrylic display base.
The specimen has been mounted to an acrylic display base.
The Huanzala mine in the Bolognesi Province of Áncash, Peru is an excellent example of a mine with exceptional quality, variety, and availability. Traditionally a lead-zinc mine, Huanzala holds the record for the most mineral tonnage extracted by a single mine. This is quite the feat and it's easy to see why minerals from this locality are so aggressively mined and collected.
This mine has a multitude of awesome minerals from sharply terminated quartz to sparkly pyrite, bubbly aragonite and dense galena. Other common minerals are realgar, orpiment, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, manganoan calcite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, cassiterite, barite, fluorite and fluorapatite, among other less prevalent minerals. Mineral associations from this mine often contain three to four minerals at once, growing all over one another in phenomenal associations.
This mine has a multitude of awesome minerals from sharply terminated quartz to sparkly pyrite, bubbly aragonite and dense galena. Other common minerals are realgar, orpiment, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, manganoan calcite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, cassiterite, barite, fluorite and fluorapatite, among other less prevalent minerals. Mineral associations from this mine often contain three to four minerals at once, growing all over one another in phenomenal associations.
SPECIES
Calcite, Pyrite, Quartz, Chalcopyrite & Sphalerite
LOCATION
Huanzala Mine, Bolognesi Province, Áncash, Peru
SIZE
3 x 2.5"
CATEGORY
ITEM
#281680
