Andradite

specimen number:
1115240

location:
Stanley Butte, Graham Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Fine classic specimen from Arizona with crystals of andradite measuring to 1.5 cm in size covering one side of matrix. This is in good condition. The specimen comes with a previous collection data card as shown at the end of the video. This would date to the early 1950s.

The Stanley Butte mineral locality, situated in the rugged Santa Teresa Mountains within the Stanley Mining District of Graham County, Arizona, United States, is a historic copper-bearing skarn deposit celebrated for producing fine mineral specimens. Geologically, this complex deposit was formed during Laramide-age igneous activity, where granitic and monzonitic porphyry intrusions invaded Paleozoic-age sedimentary limestone strata. This intense contact metamorphism generated extensive tactite skarn zones, precipitating primary chalcopyrite and pyrite alongside secondary copper minerals like chrysocolla and malachite, while producing highly prized, aesthetic crystals of dark green andradite garnet and attractive quartz crystals. Historically, copper mineralization was first discovered in the area in the late nineteenth century, leading to the formal organization of the Stanley Butte Mining Company around 1901 to develop localized open cuts and underground adits. While the site saw periods of intense exploratory tunneling, small-scale commercial mining, and copper-ore shipping between 1902 and 1918 to support wartime industrial demands, the low overall tonnage and complex mountain terrain prevented the development of a massive, long-term industrial milling complex, causing all formal commercial mining extraction to cease by 1920.

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