Galena with Dolomite

specimen number:
9302369

location:
Big Bear Orebody, Fletcher Mine, Reynolds Co., Missouri, USA

description:
Bright lustrous thin platy twinned crystals of galena measuring to almost 3.0 cm in size in a cluster with crystallized dolomite. This is in good condition. Collected around the year 2011. This type of twinning for the species in this mining district is often erroneously referred to as spinel law twinning. This is incorrect, these are flattened penetration twins.

The Fletcher Mine, located near West Fork in Reynolds County, Missouri, is a major underground operation situated within the prolific Viburnum Trend (New Lead Belt) of southeastern Missouri. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Upper Cambrian Bonneterre Formation, a sequence of dolostone and carbonate rocks where metal-rich hydrothermal fluids migrated during the Late Paleozoic to deposit massive sulfide ores along reef structures and collapse breccias. Historically, intensive exploration by the St. Joe Minerals Corporation led to the development of the mine, which began commercial production in the late 1960s to extract vital lead, zinc, and copper ores. Mineralogically, the mine is celebrated worldwide not only for its massive production of galena and sphalerite but also as the type locality for the rare copper-nickel sulfide mineral fletcherite, alongside a rich assemblage of diverse sulfide and carbonate specimens.

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