Azurite with Smithsonite

specimen number:
2312002

location:
Baita, Nucet, Bihor Co., Romania

description:
Old time specimen from Romania with sparkling blue crystals of azurite across both sides of a smithsonite crystal covered matrix. On one side of the piece the smithsonite is forming casts and replacements after scalenohedral calcite. In good condition and comes with an old label as shown at the end of the video.

The Baita district in the Bihor Mountains of Romania is a complex skarn deposit formed through the contact metamorphism and hydrothermal activity associated with Upper Cretaceous intrusive magmatic bodies penetrating Mesozoic limestones and dolostones. Mining activity in this region dates back centuries, historically yielding a rich variety of ores containing copper, bismuth, tungsten, and other metals. Within the upper zones, veins, and skarn-hosted cavities of these deposits, supergene weathering and oxidation of primary copper sulfides produce secondary minerals, notably including deep blue crusts and crystalline aggregates of azurite alongside malachite. The old name for this locality is "Rezbanya", which literally means Copper Mine.

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