Quartz

specimen number:
1712379

location:
Amatitlan, Guerrero, Mexico

description:

A lustrous mostly gemmy light purple crystal of quartz. This is the variety known as an amethyst. Classic locality for this material. In good condition.

Amatitlan in Guerrero, Mexico, is widely celebrated as the heartland of classic Mexican amethyst. Rather than a single industrial mining operation with a fixed opening and closing date, the district consists of a scattered network of small artisanal veins, shallow trenches, and pocket diggings. Modern discovery began around 1930 when local farmers uncovered quartz crystals while preparing cornfields. Small-scale extraction by hand tools has continued intermittently through the decades with various short-lived claims like La Cuna and La Sorpresa opening and closing as pockets were exhausted and rediscovered. Geologically, the amethyst deposits are situated within the broader mineralized environment of the Guerrero Gold Belt. They formed where Cretaceous carbonate and calcareous sedimentary rocks were intruded by early Tertiary granitoid bodies, producing localized open-space veins and pods filled with distinctive wine-purple quartz crystals.

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