Calcite

specimen number:
9892083

location:
Sweetwater Mine, Viburnum Trend, Reynolds Co., Missouri, USA

description:
Pale yellow glassy gem crystals of calcite measuring to 3.7 cm in length set aesthetically up on matrix. One crystal at the far left of the specimen is cleaved on the bottom termination, as well as a few cleaved crystals on the back of the piece only, everything else is in super condition.

The Sweetwater Mine, situated on the southern end of the Viburnum Trend in Reynolds County, Missouri, opened in the late 1960s as part of the expansion of the Southeast Missouri Lead District. Geologically, the deposit is a classic Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) ore body hosted within the porous platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian Bonneterre Dolomite. Mineralization primarily consists of galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite, accompanied by prominent gangue minerals such as spectacular scalenohedral calcite and pyrite. While several historic mines in the district have wound down operations over the decades, the Sweetwater Mine has remained an active and vital part of regional production under modern operators.

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