Ferberite-Hubnerite with Scheelite

specimen number:
2102242

location:
Carrock Mine, Mungrisdale, Eden, Cumbria, England, UK

description:
Classic material for this locality, semi lustrous bladed crystals of ferberite-hubnerite to 1.5 cm are in size with minor scheelite on a crystallized quartz matrix. Slight damage present, this still very nice for one of these.

The Carrock Mine, situated in the Grainsgill valley near Mungrisdale in Cumbria, England, is a unique mineral locality within the Lake District National Park. Geologically, the site is famous for its tungsten-bearing quartz veins that cut through the Grainsgill Greisen, a highly altered portion of the Skiddaw Granite, and the surrounding gabbro. It is one of the few places in the United Kingdom where wolframite and scheelite were found in commercially significant quantities, often accompanied by an array of rare minerals like apatite, molybdenite, and bismuthinite. Historically, mining activity at Carrock began in the mid-19th century, but the mine's operation was famously intermittent, typically resuming only during periods of high tungsten demand, such as during the World Wars. Significant modernization occurred in the early 1970s and again in the early 1980s, but the mine ultimately closed in 1981 due to a sharp decline in world tungsten prices. Today, the mine is celebrated by mineralogists for its high-quality specimens of bladed black wolframite and fluorescent scheelite crystals, representing a distinct and rare igneous-hosted mineralization style for the region.

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