Silver with Skutterudite, Dolomite

specimen number:
2062129

location:
Morrison Mine, Gowganda, Ontario, Canada

description:
A cut and polished slab extremely rich in native silver. Classic material for this area. Skutterudite is present as well. The matrix is massive dolomite.

The Morrison Mine, located near Gowganda in the Timiskaming District of Ontario, Canada, was a notable producer within the historic Gowganda silver camp. Geologically, the site is situated within the Cobalt Embayment, where silver mineralization occurs in carbonate-rich hydrothermal veins that cut through the Miller Lake Diabase sill, a massive Proterozoic intrusive rock body. The ore typically consists of native silver associated with a complex suite of cobalt-nickel arsenides, such as skutterudite and safflorite, which were deposited during tectonic activity approximately 2.2 billion years ago. Historically, the Morrison property was first explored in the early 1900s during the height of the regional silver rush, with significant underground development and production occurring intermittently between 1928 and 1954. Though smaller than some of its neighbors, the mine was famous for producing exceptionally rich "bonanza" pockets of leaf and wire silver. Today, the Morrison Mine is remembered as a classic Canadian locality, and its waste piles remain a favorite spot for collectors seeking native silver and various rare arsenide minerals.

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