Crocoite

specimen number:
2292172

location:
Adelaide Mine, Dundas, Tasmania, Australia

description:
Brilliant orange red needlelike crystals of crocoite on matrix. This is in good condition.

The Adelaide mine, located near Dundas in the Zeehan mining district of western Tasmania, Australia, is a famous underground mining lease globally celebrated for producing exceptional, world-class specimens of the rare lead chromate mineral crocoite. Geologically, the deposit sits within a contact zone where Cambrian serpentinite rocks were intruded by Late Devonian granitic magmas, generating hydrothermal fluids that reacted with the chromium-rich ultramafic host rocks. This process formed a deeply oxidized, gossanous vein system rich in manganese and lead oxides, providing the ideal chemical environment for vibrant orange-red crocoite crystals to grow inside open vugs and cavernous fractures. The mine was originally staked in 1890 during the western Tasmanian silver-lead rush and was worked primarily for its gossanous iron ore, which was utilized as a metallurgical flux for nearby smelters until active commercial mining ceased around 1915. Since the mid-twentieth century, the site has been operated sporadically under specialized mineral leases exclusively for specimen recovery, with targeted hand-mining and underground quarrying continuing to supply the global collector market into the 2020s.

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