Azurite on Tetrahedrite

specimen number:
9501516

location:
La Gardette Mine, Bourg d'Oisans, Isere, Auvergne-Rhone-Alps, France

description:

A superb old French classic, showing a grouping of tetrahedrite crystals coated by bright blue azurite. In great condition. These are rarely seen available on the market today.

The La Gardette Mine, located near Bourg d'Oisans in the French Alps, is historically renowned as one of France's most famous gold and quartz localities, with official mining operations initiated under King Louis XV around 1733 and intermittent exploitation continuing through the 18th and 19th centuries before finally closing. Geologically, the deposit consists of a prominent Alpine hydrothermal quartz vein cutting through the metamorphic basement rocks of the Oisans massif, world-famous among mineralogists for producing exceptionally clear, large quartz crystals alongside native gold, galena, and other accessory minerals.

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