Sphalerite with Chalcopyrite, Quartz

specimen number:
2312258

location:
Gyudyurska mine, Erma Reka, Zlatograd, Smolyan, Bulgaria

description:
Crystals of golden chalcopyrite to 2.0 cm in size, these partially enveloped by crystallized black sphalerite, all set nicely up on a crystallized quartz matrix. Unusual and quite nice.

The Gyudyurska Mine, situated near Erma Reka in the Zlatograd Municipality of Smolyan Province, Bulgaria, is located within the southern portion of the Madan Ore Field in the Rhodope Mountains. Modern industrial mining operations in the area expanded significantly during the twentieth century, highlighted by the opening of the Erma Reka ore enrichment and extraction complex around 1963. Geologically, the deposit is set within complex metamorphic basement rocks that are cut by Tertiary-age magmatic intrusions, hosting hydrothermal vein and metasomatic replacement ore bodies. Mineralization formed when metal-bearing hydrothermal solutions reacted with host carbonates and structural fractures, resulting in concentrated deposits of lead and zinc alongside notable specimens of quartz, calcite, and various sulfides.

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