Gold (4.37g)

specimen number:
2262136

location:
Cripple Creek, Teller Co., Colorado, USA

description:
Choice thumbnail for this famous locality, crystallized gold throughout matrix. In very good condition.

Cripple Creek, located on the volcanic slopes of Mount Pisgah in central Colorado, is one of the most prolific gold-producing districts in the United States, famous for its unique telluride mineralization. Geologically, the deposit is situated within a Tertiary-aged volcanic caldera where alkaline magmatic activity created a complex system of breccia pipes and veins. Native gold in this district is rarely found as nuggets but instead occurs as spectacular crystallized gold or within gold-telluride minerals like sylvanite and calaverite, often appearing as delicate, leafy, or skeletal crystals within vugs of fluorite and quartz. Historically, mining and quarrying activities exploded following Bob Womack's discovery in 1890, sparking the last great gold rush in the American West. The district reached its peak production between 1900 and 1914, with hundreds of mines like the Portland and Vindicator fueling a massive economic boom. While underground operations declined significantly by the mid-20th century, the district saw a major resurgence in 1976 with the commencement of large-scale open-pit heap leach mining at the Cresson project.

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