Barite with Hematite

specimen number:
2262234

location:
Frizington, Cumbria, England, UK

description:
A loose gemmy lustrous double terminated grouping of barite crystals with little attached hematite. In good condition with very slight micro-damage present. Choice for this British classic. Minor dolomite is attached as well. Complete all around. The specimen comes with a previous data card as shown at the end of the video.

The Frizington mining district, situated within the West Cumberland iron ore field of Cumbria, England, is globally famous for producing some of the world's finest, highly geometric crystals of barite. Geologically, these world-class specimens occur within extensive Mississippian-age Carboniferous Limestone beds that were deeply fractured and replaced by iron-rich hydrothermal solutions moving along regional fault networks. While the primary economic mineralization formed massive bodies of hematite, late-stage, low-temperature hydrothermal fluids cooling in open solution cavities and limestone vugs allowed barium sulfate to crystallize as magnificent, large, tabular prisms ranging from perfectly colorless and water-clear to rich shades of honey-yellow, amber, and delicate sky-blue. Historically, commercial mining and underground quarrying in the Frizington area escalated dramatically during the Industrial Revolution to supply the British iron and steel industries, with major operations like the Parkside and Mowbray mines running at peak capacity from the 1850s through the early 1900s. Miners frequently saved these striking barite crystals from the hematite cavities, selling them directly to Victorian mineral dealers and prestigious institutional museums. Large-scale corporate extraction rapidly declined following World War I due to the depletion of the primary iron ore bodies, leading to the permanent closure of the final major underground workings by the early 1930s.

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