Barite

specimen number:
2062810

location:
Stoneham, Weld Co., Colorado, USA

description:
Classic Colorado thumbnail specimen with a loose semi lustrous slightly translucent crystal of barite without matrix. In very good condition.

Located in northeastern Weld County, the Stoneham area is internationally renowned among mineral collectors for producing some of the world's finest gem-grade blue barite crystals. Geologically, these distinctive crystals formed when mineral-rich groundwater circulated through open cavities and fractures created by fault movement within compacted local clay beds. Mining and collecting history here dates back decades, characterized by both amateur surface prospecting and organized underground excavations—most notably the famous Leeson pockets explored by commercial operations in 1989—which yielded stunning clusters of transparent, tabular blue barite frequently associated with white calcite.

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