Sphalerite with Galena, Marcasite

specimen number:
2063748

location:
Moresnet, Plombieres , Liege , Wallonia , Belgium

description:
A neat example of what is called schalenblende, this a banded ore sample showing sphalerite, galena, and marcasite. This has been cut and polished on one side to show the interior. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Moresnet, located within the Plombieres municipality of Liege, Wallonia, Belgium, is a historically famous mining locality situated in the classic zinc-lead ore region of Western Europe. The area's geology is defined by low-temperature hydrothermal mineral deposits hosted within fractured Carboniferous limestones. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, the intense exploitation of local calamine and zinc deposits at the nearby Altenberg mine led to the establishment of Neutral Moresnet, a small European territory existing solely due to competing national desires to control these lucrative zinc reserves. Among collectors and mineralogists, Moresnet is renowned for producing exceptional specimens of schalenblende, a striking banded ore structure consisting of concentric alternating layers of sphalerite, wurtzite, pyrite, galena, and marcasite. Mining operations in the area eventually ceased in the mid-twentieth century as ore reserves were exhausted, but Moresnet remains a key historic locality for classic European mineral specimens.

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