Calcite with Fluorite

specimen number:
2013482

location:
Denton Mine, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:
A very attractive combination piece with dark purple slightly translucent lustrous cubic crystals of fluorite to 3.3 cm on edge coming off matrix and accented beautifully with glassy crystals of colorless calcite. This shows on both sides nicely. Collected in the early 1980s.

The Denton Mine, located in Hardin County, Illinois, was part of the Illinois Kentucky Fluorspar District and operated from 1979 to 1993 during the later stages of mining in the region. The deposit consists of hydrothermal vein mineralization hosted in limestone, where mineral rich fluids deposited fluorite along with associated minerals such as barite, calcite, galena, and sphalerite. Mining was carried out by underground methods that followed these veins through the host rock. The mine is especially well known among collectors for its fine barite and fluorite combination specimens, where cubic fluorite crystals in shades of purple or yellow are often found in association with white to cream colored bladed barite. These minerals formed in open cavities under conditions that allowed for slow and well developed crystal growth, producing attractive and highly valued specimens from one of the last major producing mines in the district.

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