Dioptase with Plancheite

specimen number:
8311382

location:
Tantara Mine, Shinkolobwe, Kambove, Haut-Katanga, DR Congo

description:

Lustrous emerald green slightly translucent crystals of dioptase to 0.5 cm in size across the front of matrix with light blue plancheite. Some damage present as seen, still very attractive. The specimen comes with a custom display base.

The Tantara Mine, situated in the Shinkolobwe area of the Katanga Copper Crescent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a premier locality for secondary copper minerals. Geologically, it is an oxidized copper-cobalt deposit hosted within the Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the Katanga Supergroup, where primary sulfides underwent extensive weathering to form rich secondary silicates and carbonates. The mine is most famous for its world-class dioptase, which occurs as intense emerald-green, rhombohedral crystals often found in dramatic contrast against a matrix of light blue fibrous plancheite or darker blue shattuckite. Historically, the site began as a small-scale open-cast operation for copper and cobalt during the mid-20th century, with significant mineralogical discoveries occurring throughout the 1970s and 1980s. While it never reached the industrial scale of the nearby Shinkolobwe or Musonoi mines, Tantara remained an active source for high-end mineral specimens for several decades. Today, the mine is mostly worked by artisanal miners who continue to recover these iconic green dioptase clusters from the weathered upper zones of the ore body for the international collector market.

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