Pyrite (SUL-0009)

specimen number:
9273106

location:
Huanzala Mine, Huallanca, Bolognesi, Ancash, Peru

description:

Large sharp bright golden cubic crystals of pyrite measuring to 6.0 and greater in size across the top of matrix with minor sphalerite. This is in very good condition, especially taking into consideration the size of this piece.

The Huanzala mine is a major underground polymetallic operation located in the Huallanca district of the Peruvian Andes, celebrated worldwide by collectors for producing vast quantities of exceptional, lustrous pyrite and fluorite specimens. Geologically, the deposit consists of stratigraphically controlled, platy to lenticular silver-lead-zinc-copper replacement ore bodies and skarn zones hosted within the steeply dipping limestone beds of the Lower Cretaceous Santa Formation, genetically linked to Miocene-aged porphyry intrusions. Although the primary mineralized zone was initially discovered by Spanish prospectors in 1721 and subsequently abandoned, the modern industrial era began in 1964 when the Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company acquired the property and formed the Compania Minera Santa Luisa S.A. Full-scale commercial mining and milling operations officially commenced in 1968 at a rate of 500 metric tons of crude ore per day, expanding steadily through the late twentieth century and maintaining nearly continuous deep-shaft production well into the twenty-first century.

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