Stephanite

specimen number:
2312122

location:
Baita, Nucet, Bihor Co., Romania

description:
Interesting locality example for the species with metallic crystallized stephanite across the top of a crystallized quartz matrix. This is in terrific condition. At one time this was part of the collection of Wolfgang E Henkel.

The Baita mining area, situated near Nucet in Bihor County, Romania, has a long history of resource extraction originating centuries ago for copper, iron, and precious metals, followed by intensive mid-twentieth-century exploitation for uranium and polymetallic ores. Geologically, the deposit is part of the Banatitic Magmatic and Metallogenetic Belt, centered in the Bihor Mountains where Late Cretaceous intrusive magmatic bodies intersect Mesozoic carbonate formations and sedimentary sequences. This contact has produced complex skarn systems characterized by extensive metasomatic alteration and zoned mineral assemblages. The underground workings are widely celebrated among mineral collectors and researchers for their exceptional diversity of over one hundred mineral species, including rich concentrations of bismuth sulfosalts, skarn silicates, and various copper, lead, and zinc phases.

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