Arsenopyrite

specimen number:
2282071

location:
El Tajo Mine, Hidalgo de Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico

description:
A loose bright metallic sharp crystal of arsenopyrite. In good condition.

The El Tajo mine, situated in the historic Hidalgo de Parral mining district of southern Chihuahua, Mexico, is a notable silver and base-metal locality named after its prominent open-cut workings. Geologically, the deposit is centered on the massive Veta Colorada and associated epithermal vein systems that cut through the Cretaceous Parral Formation, which consists primarily of dark carbonaceous shales, siltstones, and argillaceous limestones. The mineralization is characterized by silver-bearing lead, zinc, and copper sulfides, which underwent intense near-surface oxidation to produce extensive secondary mineral suites within the upper parts of the vein structures. Organized mining and surface quarrying at the Tajo site began shortly after the initial silver discoveries in the Parral area in 1631, with major periods of open-pit and underground extraction continuing under various Spanish and Mexican operators through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Production fluctuated alongside regional conflicts and technological shifts until the gradual exhaustion of accessible surface oxidized ores led to the eventual winding down of large-scale operations by the early twentieth century.

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