Safflorite on Silver with Skutterudite

specimen number:
2312125

location:
Shaft 366, Alberoda, Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony, Germany

description:
Spiky twinned crystals of native silver very nice across the top of matrix, these coated with sparkling metallic safflorite. Minor skutterudite present as well. This is in excellent condition.

Shaft 366, situated in the Alberoda section of the massive Schlema-Alberoda mining district in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony, Germany, was an integral component of the region's extensive post-World War II uranium extraction operations managed by SDAG Wismut. Geologically, the area is part of the western Erzgebirge, where complex metamorphic host rocks are cut by extensive hydrothermal vein systems associated with Variscan granitic magmatism. While the shaft was primarily driven for large-scale uranium production during the mid-to-late twentieth century, the complex multi-stage hydrothermal veins also crosscut older polymetallic ore structures. These veins produced fine specimens of silver-bearing sulfosalts, such as pyrargyrite and stephanite, alongside carbonate and sulfide minerals like siderite and chalcopyrite.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.