Fluorite

specimen number:
8311506

location:
Yaogangxian Mine, Chenzhou, Hunan, China

description:

Gorgeous gemmy bluish green crystal of fluorite 1.7 cm on edge set on matrix with several smaller fluorite crystals. This is in really good condition.

The Yaogangxian mine, located in Yizhang County within the Hunan Province of China, is a historically monumental underground tungsten-tin operation famous for producing sharp, multi-generation mineral specimens, particularly distinct ice-blue to purple fluorite cubes, wolframite, and tabular ferberite crystals. Geologically, this prolific deposit is a classic multi-stage hydrothermal vein and skarn system related to the Mesozoic-age Yanshanian magmatic event, where a highly evolved granitic pluton intruded into a thick sequence of Devonian to Carboniferous quartzites and limestones. The resulting high-temperature, volatile-rich mineralizing fluids filled extensive fissure networks, depositing a complex suite of primary wolframite, cassiterite, and scheelite within quartz veins, which were later overlaid by lower-temperature hydrothermal phases that crystallized exceptional fluorite, arsenopyrite, and bournonite inside open vugs. Historically, the outcroppings were discovered in 1914, sparking a regional mining boom that led to the formal establishment of state-run industrial operations in 1949 under the Yaogangxian Bureau of Mines, which systematically expanded the underground workings with deep shafts and heavy milling facilities. Large-scale corporate production of critical industrial tungsten ores ran continuously through the late twentieth century, transitioning in the 2000s into modernized, consolidated corporate management under the China Tungsten Industry group to improve efficiency and safety. Through 2026, while industrial base-metal and tungsten mining remains active under strict state oversight, the deep underground chambers continue to periodically yield highly valued mineral specimens, ensuring the site remains a premier geological benchmark for studying granite-related wolframite-quartz vein systems.

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