Fluorite with Quartz, Svanbergite

specimen number:
8911104

location:
Detroit City Portal, Sweet Home Mine, Park Co., Colorado, USA

description:
Lustrous purple translucent crystals of fluorite measuring to 0.5 cm in size scattered richly across this crystallized quartz matrix. There are several very tiny gemmy orange crystals of svanbergite present as well. In good condition.

The Detroit City Portal, constructed as part of modern underground exploration at the historic Sweet Home Mine in Park County, Colorado, sits within the Alma Mining District along the eastern flank of the Mosquito Range. Originally worked in the late nineteenth century as a silver mine, the Sweet Home system gained world renown among mineral collectors for producing incredible, deep red rhodochrosite crystals hosted in quartz, fluorite, tetrahedrite, and pyrite veins that cut through Precambrian granitic rock and Tertiary intrusive stocks. In the late twentieth century, targeted mining operations focused entirely on mineral specimen recovery rather than ore extraction, yielding some of the finest known rhodochrosite specimens in existence. The Detroit City Portal was driven nearby to intersect continuing hydrothermal vein systems in the same geological formation, allowing miners to safely access fresh, unmined pockets of vivid red rhodochrosite and associated minerals while preserving the rich mining heritage of the Mount Bross region.

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