Hemimorphite (SA-014)

specimen number:
9273081

location:
Nivel 13, Potosi Mine, Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico

description:

Wonderful cluster of large prismatic lustrous hemimorphite crystals, these with a dark reddish iron oxide accent. In super condition.

The Potosi mine, situated within the legendary West Camp of the Santa Eulalia mining district in the Aquiles Serdan Municipality of Chihuahua, Mexico, is a world-renowned underground operation celebrated for producing immense industrial base metals alongside exceptional mineral specimens of pyrrhotite, rhodochrosite, fluorite, and calcites. Geologically, the deposit is a spectacular example of a multi-stage carbonate replacement deposit (CRD), where Tertiary-age calc-alkaline intrusive dikes and sills cut through thick, heavily fractured Lower Cretaceous limestones of the Finlay, Lagrima, and Benigno formations. Superheated polymetallic hydrothermal fluids migrated upward along vertical fissures and structural intersections, thoroughly replacing the host carbonate rock to form massive sulfide bodies, extensive tabular horizontal mantos, and vertical chimney structures dominated by primary galena, sphalerite, and iron sulfides, with deep structural zones containing localized silicate and iron-rich skarn alterations. Historically, while early Spanish explorers initiated the first localized silver extractions in the broader Santa Eulalia district around 1703, large-scale industrialization specifically at the massive Potosi property took off during the late nineteenth century under heavy corporate capitalization. The property developed into one of the most prolific silver, lead, and zinc mines in the entire region, operating continuously under major conglomerates like the El Potosi Mining Company, MINAMEX, and Grupo Mexico until primary high-grade deep orebodies neared economic exhaustion, leading to a cessation of primary heavy industrial West Camp extraction in the early 1990s. Following decades of intermittent leasing, localized mining by specialized independent syndicates, and care-and-maintenance phases, targeted corporate rehabilitation of the historic shafts, exploration drilling, and specimen recovery from the upper tunnel levels continue under active development through 2026.

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