Olivenite

specimen number:
1052806

location:
Redruth, Cornwall, England, UK

description:
Green crystallized olivenite very rich throughout a quartz matrix. Neat historical specimen from this old locality. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video. The label gives an original acquisition date in June, 1907.

The Redruth mining district, situated in western Cornwall, England, is one of the most historically significant regions for industrial copper and tin extraction. Geologically, the area is dominated by the northern margins of the Carn Brea granite pluton, which intruded into upper Paleozoic slates and metasedimentary rocks locally termed killas. This igneous activity generated a complex network of high-temperature hydrothermal veins, or lodes, rich in primary chalcopyrite, cassiterite, and arsenopyrite, which later produced a diverse suite of secondary copper minerals in shallow oxidized zones. Large-scale mining operations expanded rapidly during the eighteenth century and reached their zenith in the mid-nineteenth century, establishing the district as a major metal provider before intensive global competition and deep ore depletion led to a steady decline, resulting in the eventual cessation of major local mining by the mid-twentieth century.

Dr. Hugo Francke of Dresden, Germany, was an established mineral dealer and supplier of geological materials active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Operating from the Dresden-Plauen region, Francke maintained a commercial enterprise that specialized in providing well-documented mineral specimens, rock suites, and specialized geological tools to academic institutions, regional museums, and private collectors throughout Europe.

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