Calcite

specimen number:
2312052

location:
N'Chwaning Mines, Northern Cape, South Africa

description:
Attractive light pink crystallized calcite across the top of matrix. Brightly fluorescent and in excellent condition.

The Nchwaning Mines, located in the Kalahari Manganese Field of South Africa, exploit one of the largest sedimentary-hosted manganese deposits in the world, formed approximately two billion years ago in an ancient marine basin. Historically, intensive commercial mining operations began in the mid-twentieth century to supply global steel and industrial needs. Geologically, the ore bodies are hosted within the Paleoproterozoic Hotazel Formation of the Transvaal Supergroup, where complex low-grade metamorphic and hydrothermal processes overprinted the original manganese layers. The underground stopes and secondary fault zones are famous among mineral collectors for producing vibrant, well-crystallized specimens of diverse manganese-bearing species, notably deep red rhodochrosite perched on metallic black manganite, alongside other notable minerals like ettringite, sturmanite, hausmannite, and inesite.

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