Calcite with Barite

specimen number:
2063450

location:
Minerva Mine #1, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:

Attractive amber colored almost transparent and lustrous scalenohedral crystals of calcite measuring to 4.0 cm in height coming off of a white massive barite matrix. Normally this type of calcite from here has cleaved terminations, this one is in excellent condition and shows well all around. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The Minerva Mine Number 1, located near Cave-in-Rock in Hardin County, Illinois, was a cornerstone of the historic Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district. Discovered in 1940 and sinking its primary shaft in 1942, the mine operated intermittently until its final closure in 1996. Geologically, the deposit sits within Mississippian-age carbonate host rocks, where fluorine-bearing hydrothermal fluids migrated through regional faults and bedding-plane replacement zones to form rich ore bodies. Mineralogically, the mine achieved world-renowned status among collectors for producing spectacular specimens, most notably exceptionally sharp cubic and multi-colored fluorite crystals often associated with sphalerite, calcite, barite, strontianite, and witherite.

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