Azurite

specimen number:
2292173

location:
Touissit, Oujda, Morocco

description:
A wonderful grouping of beautiful blue bladed azurite crystals on matrix. This is in good condition all around. Very attractive.

The Touissit mining district, located near Oujda in the Jerada Province of eastern Morocco, is a world-renowned Mississippi Valley-type lead-zinc deposit famous for producing exceptional, museum-grade crystal specimens of azurite, wulfenite, cerussite, and anglesite. Geologically, the mineralization is hosted within a thick sequence of highly fractured and dolomitized Liassic-aged Jurassic limestones, where low-temperature hydrothermal fluids deposited massive stratabound sulfides and secondary oxidation products within karst cavities and faults. Industrial-scale underground mining began at the site in the mid-1920s under French colonial administration and was later operated extensively by the Compagnie Miniere de Touissit. The corporate underground mining operations ran continuously for decades, producing significant quantities of lead, zinc, and silver concentrates until the depletion of the primary economic ore bodies led to the official closure of the main commercial mines in 2002.

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