Azurite

specimen number:
9273020

location:
Los Olivos Mine, Rosario, Chihuahua, Mexico

description:

A neat and attractive specimen for the species from an unusual Mexican locality. Glistening blue almost botryoidal crystallized azurite is covering the front of matrix. In excellent condition.

The Los Olivos mine, situated in the Santa Barbara Municipality within the historic Parral Mining District of southern Chihuahua, Mexico, is a notable underground mining operation recognized for its production of base metals, silver, and distinctive mineral specimens of fluorite, sphalerite, and galite. Geologically, this deposit is part of a complex, intermediate-sulphidation epithermal vein system and associated carbonate replacement bodies hosted within Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, primarily limestones and shales of the Mezcalera and Cuesta del Cura Formations. Hydrothermal mineralization was driven by Tertiary-age igneous activity, which channeled metal-rich fluids along regional fault structures, precipitating thick bands of silver-bearing galena, iron-rich sphalerite, and chalcopyrite within a gangue dominated by quartz, calcite, and multi-colored fluorite. Historically, while mining in the broader Parral-Santa Barbara region dates back to early Spanish discoveries in 1567, modernized underground development at the Los Olivos site expanded significantly during the mid-to-late twentieth century to exploit deep sulfide reserves. The mine operated as part of the interconnected Santa Barbara unit under major corporate entities, including Industrial Minera Mexico (a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico), which mechanized the extraction of hundreds of thousands of tons of lead-zinc-silver ore.

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