Barite

specimen number:
2292119

location:
Elmwood Mine, Smith Co., Tennessee, USA

description:
A white crystallized hemisphere of barite, this covering a sphalerite matrix. In very good condition. Collected in the 1990s.

The Elmwood mine, situated near Carthage in Smith County, Tennessee, is a world-class historical mineral locality within the Central Tennessee Zinc District. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the lower portion of the Ordovician-aged Knox Group, primarily occurring as solution-collapse breccias within dense limestones and dolostones. Large-scale mineralization occurred when low-temperature, metal-rich Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) hydrothermal fluids migrated through these porous, fractured breccia zones, reacting with the host rock to precipitate massive zinc sulfide ores alongside spectacular accessory minerals. The mine is globally renowned among collectors for producing large, pristine vugs lined with exceptional sphalerite crystals, fluorite cubes, barite, and calcite scalenohedrons. Large-scale underground mining operations commenced at the site in 1975 under the Jersey Miniere Zinc Company to extract high-grade zinc ore. The mine experienced several temporary production halts due to fluctuating global zinc prices and underwent changes in corporate ownership, eventually being operated by Nyrstar, and it continues intermittent industrial zinc extraction well into the twenty-first century.

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