Sahlinite

specimen number:
9302317

location:
Langban, Filipstad, Varmland, Sweden

description:
Yellow masses of this rare mineral throughout matrix. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet as shown at the end of the video.

The Langban mining district, situated in Filipstad Municipality, Varmland, Sweden, is a globally renowned iron-manganese deposit famous for its extraordinary mineral diversity, yielding over 300 distinct species. Geologically, the deposit consists of stratabound, metamorphosed exhalative iron ore and manganese silicate-carbonate blocks hosted within Proterozoic dolomite marbles of the Filipstad granitic complex. High-grade regional metamorphism and subsequent hydrothermal alteration during the Svecofennian orogeny caused complex chemical recombinations, generating hundreds of rare, localized mineral species within the stratified ore bodies. Commercial mining began for iron ore around 1560 and expanded to include manganese extraction in the late nineteenth century, driven by corporate operations such as the Langbans Grufaktiebolag. Primary underground mining operations continued for nearly four centuries until the deposit was exhausted, leading to the definitive closure of the mine in 1954, though the historical dump piles remain a significant source for mineralogical study.

Sahlinite is an exceptionally rare lead bismuth oxide arsenate mineral that was first discovered and described from the Langban mine. It typically occurs as sulfur-yellow, platy or micaceous aggregates and crystalline coatings found within cracks or cavities in the metamorphosed manganese ore bodies.

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