Copper

specimen number:
2312194

location:
Chala mine, Spahievo, Mineralni Bani, Haskovo, Bulgaria

description:

Neat locality example for the species, a cluster of sharply twinned crystals of native copper. In great condition all around. A fine miniature.

The Chala mine, situated within the Spahievo ore field in the Mineralni Bani municipality of Haskovo Province, southern Bulgaria, is an epithermal gold-base metal deposit. Geologically, it was formed through low-temperature hydrothermal-metasomatic alterations linked to post-orogenic extensional magmatism within a late Eocene to Oligocene volcanic complex of the Eastern Rhodopes. The deposit is hosted in quartz veins and volcanic rocks, and it is globally renowned among mineralogists for its exceptional diversity of secondary phosphate, sulfate, and turquoise-group minerals such as planerite, aheylite, and faustite. Historically, human activity in the broader region dates back to prehistoric and Roman periods when local polymetallic and gold occurrences were exploited for resource extraction, while modern exploration has established Chala as a key site for specialized mineralogical research.

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