Galena

specimen number:
9892088

location:
Buick Mine, Viburnum Trend, Iron Co., Missouri, USA

description:
Loose twinned crystal grouping of lustrous galena. In great condition. Fine thumbnail.

The Buick Mine, located in the Viburnum Trend of Iron County, Missouri, is a prominent underground base-metal mine operated as part of the Southeast Missouri Lead District. Geologically, the deposit is a sediment-hosted Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) orebody, where lead, zinc, and copper sulfides occur as open-space fillings, replacements, and disseminations within the Cambrian-aged Bonneterre Formation dolomite. Exploration drilling in the mid-1950s led to its discovery, and the mine officially opened along with its adjacent primary smelter complex in the late 1960s (circa 1966-1968). While the associated smelter transitioned into a recycling and resource recovery facility in 1987, the underground mine itself has continued intermittent or long-term regional production cycles into the modern era as part of the district's active operations.

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