Calcite

specimen number:
1631250

location:
Cemetery Ridge Development, Sweetwater mine, Viburnum Trend, Reynolds Co., Missouri, USA

description:
Lustrous golden yellow scalenohedral crystals of calcite, some of the to double terminated and measuring to 4.2 cm in length, scattered about a breccia matrix. Very minimal cleaving present. Aesthetically arranged and quite attractive.

The Sweetwater Mine, situated in the southern portion of the Viburnum Trend in Reynolds County, Missouri, is a world-class Mississippi Valley-type deposit hosted within the porous platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian Bonneterre Dolomite. Mineralization formed through ancient hydrothermal fluid migration, concentrating metal sulfides within ancient reef and algal mound structures. Modern exploration of the district began in the mid-1950s, leading to major underground operations such as Sweetwater (originally developed as the Ozark Lead Company mine) starting production in the late 1960s to extract valuable ore minerals. Beyond its significant industrial output of lead, copper, and zinc, the mine became globally renowned among mineral collectors for yielding pristine, highly sculptural crystals, particularly large scalenohedral calcite prisms, lustrous galena, and associated accessory minerals.

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