Fluorite (O-0029)

specimen number:
9273186

location:
El Tule Mine, Melchor Muzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico

description:

This is a wonderful example for this Mexican locality. Crystallized completely all around with no points of attachment, gemmy purple crystals of fluorite measuring to 3.0 cm in size without matrix. In great condition. Beautiful when backlit as shown in the picture and at the end of the video.

The El Tule mine, located in the Melchor Muzquiz Municipality of Coahuila, Mexico, is a historic underground mineral operation best known for its production of industrial fluorite and high-quality mineral specimens. Geologically, the deposit is a stratabound, Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) replacement body hosted within the Cretaceous-aged Aurora Limestone formation. Hydrothermal fluids migrating through the carbonate strata leached calcium from the limestone and combined with deep-seated fluorine sources to precipitate extensive beds of fluorite, calcite, celestine, and barite within localized solution cavities, collapse breccias, and bedding planes. Commercial mining operations at the site began in earnest during the mid-twentieth century to supply the metallurgical and chemical industries with acid-grade fluorspar, with production peaking between the 1960s and the 1980s via a series of underground shafts, adits, and hand-sorting galleries. While large-scale industrial fluorspar extraction at the primary deposit eventually declined and ceased around 1990 due to changing global market dynamics, the mine has seen sporadic, small-scale specimen mining up through recent decades to recover its distinctive, highly sought-after fluorite crystal clusters.

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