Calcite

specimen number:
2292283

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

description:
Glassy gemmy double terminated twinned calcite crystal 4.0 cm in size on a breccia matrix coated with microscopic sparkling crystals of quartz. This is in good condition. From the 1980s. Choice miniature.

The Elmwood mine, situated near Carthage in Smith County, Tennessee, is an underground zinc operation that produces mineral specimens. Geologically, it is a Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) deposit hosted within the brecciated limestones and dolomites of the Lower Ordovician Knox Group. Hydrothermal mineralizing fluids migrating through these porous, collapsed paleokarst features deposited sphalerite ore alongside crystals of calcite, fluorite, and barite within open vugs. Large-scale commercial underground mining operations commenced around 1969 under the New Jersey Zinc Company to extract the zinc ore bodies. The mine changed ownership multiple times over the decades, experiencing periodic temporary closures due to fluctuating zinc prices, including ownership shifts to Pasminco, Nyrstar, and Glencore, with active industrial extraction and mineral specimen recovery continuing to the present day.

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