Calcite

specimen number:
2063576

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

description:
A beautiful glassy gem amber colored double terminated crystal of calcite with little attached barite on one side. One termination at first appears to be cleaved, this is natural contacting and not damage. Great color and luster. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark and was collected from the 20-78 #12 area in the latter part of the 1980s.

The Elmwood complex, comprising primarily of the Elmwood, Gordonsville, and Cumberland Mines, in Smith County, Tennessee, is situated within Paleozoic carbonate rock formations where mineralizing hydrothermal brines circulated through ancient, open solution cavities, faults, and breccia zones. Originally developed for industrial underground mining starting in the 1970s, the facility gained global renown among mineral collectors because miners recovered world-class crystal specimens from vugs and cavities intersected during operations. While the complex has experienced intermittent commercial closures and changes in corporate ownership over the decades, it remains a legendary locality celebrated for producing some of the finest aesthetic mineral crystals ever discovered.

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