Calcite (Oth-0023)

specimen number:
9273224

location:
Aranzazu Mine, Concepcion del Oro, Zacatecas, Mexico

description:

Beautiful pink lustrous translucent crystals of calcite across matrix. In great condition. Classic material for this locality not often seen available on the market today.

The Aranzazu mine, located near Concepcion del Oro in the Mazapil District of Zacatecas, Mexico, is a major copper-gold-silver deposit known for producing distinctive specimens of pink calcite, chalcopyrite, malachite, azurite, and bournonite. Geologically, the deposit is an extensive gold-copper-silver skarn formed by the intrusion of the mid-Tertiary Concepcion del Oro granodiorite stock into the Late Jurassic to Cretaceous sedimentary sequence, particularly the Zuloaga and Cupido limestone formations. Hydrothermal fluids associated with this intrusion caused intense metasomatism, creating marble and calc-silicate skarn zones containing primary copper sulfides like chalcopyrite, while late-stage and supergene fluids precipitated well-crystallized pink calcite, malachite, azurite, and complex sulfosalts like bournonite within regional fractures and solution cavities. Mining history in the district dates back to the Spanish colonial era in 1530, with formal commercial underground and open-pit operations expanding heavily in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under various international corporations. After several periods of intermittent closures due to fluctuating metal prices and corporate restructuring, the modern Aranzazu mining operation was revitalized by Aura Minerals in 2008, undergoing significant infrastructure upgrades before achieving steady commercial production by 2018, which continues to operate as a major mechanized mining venture into the 2020s.

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