Chalcopyrite with Calcite, Dolomite

specimen number:
2312230

location:
Shaft 366, Alberoda, Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony, Germany

description:
Semi lustrous golden crystals of chalcopyrite measuring to almost 1.0 cm in size across the front of matrix with scalenohedral crystals of colorless calcite and minor dolomite. In good condition. Nice old German classic.

Shaft 366, located in the Alberoda section of the Aue-Bad Schlema mining district within the Erzgebirge of Saxony, Germany, was a major deep-mining complex operated by the Soviet-German Wismut corporation. Surface installations and the prominent headframe were erected starting in 1956, and the shaft operated extensively to extract uranium for the Soviet nuclear program until operations wound down prior to the German reunification and final closure around 1990. Geologically, the site sits within the world-class Schneeberg-Schlema-Alberoda hydrothermal vein deposit, where complex networks of mineralized veins cuts through Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks, yielding primary uranium-quartz-calcite assemblages alongside remobilized secondary ores.

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