Epidote (SIL-0042)

specimen number:
9273102

location:
Cerro San Cristobal, Canete, Peru

description:

Superb lustrous black green crystals of epidote to 5.0 cm in size across the top of matrix. This is in super condition all around. An outstanding display quality example for the species.

The Cerro San Cristobal mining area, located within the Mala and San Vicente de Canete region of the Canete Province in the Lima Department of Peru, is a notable mineral locality exploited through underground workings and localized surface quarrying. Geologically, the deposit forms part of the prominent coastal metallogenic belt of central Peru, characterized by iron-copper-gold skarns and mantos hosted within Cretaceous-age volcano-sedimentary sequences of the Casma Group. Hydrothermal mineralizing fluids associated with the emplacement of the massive Peruvian Coastal Batholith triggered contact metamorphism and replacement in the volcano-sedimentary strata, precipitating dense, massive orebodies dominated by magnetite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite, alongside a well-crystallized gangue assemblage notably rich in lustrous epidote, actinolite, and calcite. Historically, exploratory pit work and extraction in this coastal sector date back to small-scale colonial iron and copper prospects during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with more systematic geological evaluation and tracking expanding in the twentieth century alongside major regional operations like the nearby Condestable mine framework. While large-scale industrial infrastructure was concentrated at adjacent corporate processing plants, independent quarrying and surface mineral extraction at this specific hill site occurred intermittently through the latter half of the twentieth century, with modern activity focused primarily on academic geological mapping, mapping validation, and environmental tracking through 2026.

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