Silver (AuAg-0003)

specimen number:
9273077

location:
Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon, Lima, Peru

description:

From the summer of 2001, an aesthetic grouping of thick native silver wires coming off of a small amount of matrix. This is in super condition. We originally brought the specimen out of Peru at the time.

The Uchucchacua mine, located at an extreme elevation exceeding four thousand five hundred meters in the Oyon Province of the Lima Department, Peru, is a world-renowned underground operation celebrated for its high-grade silver, lead, and zinc deposits. Geologically, it is a premier example of a carbonate replacement and skarn-type system, where Miocene-age dacitic to andesitic intrusive complexes intersected thick Cretaceous-age carbonate sequences of the Jumasha Formation. Hydrothermal fluids migrating along regional fault networks replaced the limestone beds, generating massive sulfide ore bodies and spectacular open cavities lined with exceptional crystal specimens of silver-bearing minerals, rhodochrosite, and specialized manganese silicates like bustamite and pyroxmangite. Historically, corporate exploration and commercial underground development began in 1970 under Compania de Minas Buenaventura, which officially initiated large-scale industrial mining and milling operations in 1975. The facility operated continuously for decades, expanding its mechanized trackless mining infrastructure to become one of the premier silver-producing mines in Peru. Following a temporary care-and-maintenance suspension initiated in late 2021 to optimize underground infrastructure and exploration targets, Buenaventura successfully restarted commercial ore extraction and processing at the complex in late 2023, with industrial base metal and silver production remaining highly active through 2026.

Questions about this specimen?
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