Fluorite

specimen number:
9892028

location:
Rosiclare, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:
A superb cluster of gemmy cubic fluorite crystals measuring to 2.3 cm on edge with little attached matrix on the backside. This is in excellent condition with minimal cleaving present as seen. The crystals are very transparent in this is quite pretty when backlit. This is shown in the picture and at the end of the video.

Rosiclare, situated along the Ohio River in Hardin County, Illinois, earned distinction as the historical center of the domestic fluorspar industry. Commercial mining in the district began around 1842 after local discoveries of lead and fluorite, and operations expanded significantly as the steel industry adopted fluorspar as an essential flux. After more than a century of intensive extraction that made the area a premier global source of high-quality fluorite, the last major local processing operations and mines closed between 1995 and 1996 due to heavy economic pressure from cheaper foreign imports. Geologically, the deposits are structurally controlled by complex systems of high-angle faults and graben structures. Fluorite, calcite, galena, and sphalerite ores precipitated out of ascending fluorine-rich hydrothermal fluids as they interacted with calcium-rich Paleozoic limestone formations, such as the Ste. Genevieve and Paoli limestones.

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