Goslarite with Chalcanthite

specimen number:
9302365

location:
Rammelsberg, Harz, Lower-Saxony, Germany

description:
From the type locality, crystallized goslarite in a cluster with chalcanthite. In good condition all around.

The Rammelsberg mine, located near Goslar in the Harz Mountains of Lower Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest and most historically significant mining sites, with over one thousand years of continuous exploitation yielding massive polymetallic ores primarily rich in copper, lead, and zinc. Geologically, the deposit is a classic sediment-hosted massive sulfide (SHMS) formation that originated from submarine hydrothermal exhalations during the Paleozoic era. Mineralogically, while the primary orebody features complex metallic sulfides, the historic mine and its extensive underground workings are also famous for producing secondary hydrous zinc sulfate minerals, most notably goslarite, which frequently forms delicate, fibrous, or needle-like efflorescences on the damp walls of old stopes as the zinc-bearing minerals oxidize over time.

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