Calcite

specimen number:
2102418

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

description:
Glassy mostly gem amber colored double terminated crystal of calcite without matrix. There is slight cleaving on the backside, this still in very good condition. Great color and luster.

The Elmwood mine, situated near Carthage in Smith County, Tennessee, is a large-scale underground mining operation famous for its base-metal ores and high-quality calcites, fluorites, and sphalerites. Geologically, the deposit is a classic Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) stratabound ore body hosted within the lower Ordovician-aged Knox Group dolomites, specifically within dense collapse breccia zones. These ancient karst breccias formed along structural dissolution unconformities, providing highly permeable pathways for regional zinc-rich hydrothermal fluids to deposit massive sulfides and large, well-formed crystals inside open dissolution cavities. Development and shaft sinking at the site commenced in 1969 by the New Jersey Zinc Company, with formal commercial ore extraction and milling beginning in 1975. The facility operated heavily for nearly three decades until depressed zinc prices forced a temporary shutdown in 2004, after which it was acquired by Nyrstar, refurbished, and reopened in 2010. The mine continues active, continuous industrial production of zinc concentrates today, remaining a major source of both industrial metals and museum-grade mineral specimens.

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