Pyromorphite

specimen number:
5007167

location:
Realces pocket, San Andres Mine, Cordoba, Spain

description:
Beautiful lustrous green crystals of pyromorphite on a thin matrix. In good condition.

The San Andres Mine, located in Espiel, Cordoba, Spain, is a historic lead deposit widely celebrated for producing some of the world's most aesthetic pyromorphite specimens. Geologically, the mine is situated within the Los Blazquez-Villaviciosa mining district, where hydrothermal veins containing galena are hosted in Paleozoic rocks, specifically shales and greywackes. The famous pyromorphite formed as a secondary mineral in the oxidation zone of these lead veins, resulting in brilliant green to yellowish-green hexagonal crystals that often exhibit a distinctive curved or barrel-shaped (campylite) habit. Historically, while mining in the region has ancient roots, the most significant modern industrial activity occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The mine was worked primarily for lead ore until operations largely ceased by the mid-1900s. It was rediscovered by mineral collectors in the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to a brief but spectacular modern era of specimen recovery that firmly established the locality as a premier source for high-quality Spanish pyromorphite.

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