Sphalerite with Quartz

specimen number:
1052791

location:
Kangjiawan, Shuikoushan, Changning Co., Hengyang, Hunan, China

description:
Lustrous grouping of deep red slightly translucent sphalerite crystals measuring to 1.3 cm in height coming off of a crystallized quartz matrix. In good condition all around.

The Kangjiawan deposit, located within the prominent Shuikoushan polymetallic ore field in Changning, Hunan Province, China, is a major underground lead, zinc, gold, and silver mine. Geologically, it is classified as a distal skarn and hydrothermal vein-type deposit situated along the central Qin-Hang Metallogenic Belt. The mineralization is primarily hosted within a strongly silicified and fractured breccia zone at the structural contact between Permian limestone formations and Upper Jurassic sandstones, driven by deep-seated magmatic-hydrothermal fluids dating to approximately 150 million years ago. Economic minerals include abundant sphalerite and galena, which are notable for hosting significant trace amounts of gallium and silver within their crystal lattices. Although surface mining in the broader Shuikoushan field has occurred for centuries, the concealed Kangjiawan ore body was officially discovered through systematic geological exploration in 1976. Industrial underground extraction began shortly after its discovery and has expanded continuously through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, positioning it as one of the highest-producing lead-zinc operations within the regional ore field.

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