Brochantite with Malachite

specimen number:
8282265

location:
Bou Bekker, Touissit, Oriental, Morocco

description:

A wonderful combination specimen with deep green lustrous prismatic crystals of brochantite measuring to 0.5 cm in length across the top of this velvety green botryoidal crystallized malachite matrix. In very good condition. A previous collection label accompanies the specimen.

The Bou Beker mining district, located in the Jerada Province of northeastern Morocco near the Algerian border, is a premier Mississippi Valley-type lead-zinc locality renowned for its vast metal output and exceptional secondary mineral specimens. Geologically, the deposit is a strata-bound, epigenetic mineralization hosted within a twenty-five meter thick sequence of hydrothermally dolomitized Middle Jurassic carbonate platform rocks. Primary ore mineralization consists of galena and sphalerite deposited by basin-derived saline brines moving along regional fault systems, which later underwent intense supergene alteration to form extensive oxidation zones rich in beautifully crystallized anglesite, cerussite, azurite, and wulfenite. Following initial geological discoveries in 1906, systematic commercial underground mining began in 1926 under French colonial management. Production of high-grade lead and zinc ore peaked during the mid-twentieth century and sustained regional economies for decades until resource depletion led to the cessation of major operations in 1997, with final closure and flooding of the deep mine workings occurring in the early 2000s.

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