Stibnite

specimen number:
2292170

location:
Xikuangshan Mine, Hunan, China

description:
A cluster of bright lustrous metallic stibnite crystals. Minor quartz is present. Typical of these slight damage present, this one is in good condition.

The Xikuangshan mine, located near Lengshuijiang in Hunan Province, China, is the largest antimony deposit in the world and is widely known as the global capital of antimony. Geologically, it is a massive, stratabound hydrothermal deposit hosted within Upper Devonian limestone sequences, where structural deformation allowed manganese- and antimony-bearing hydrothermal fluids to precipitate extensive bodies of stibnite within silicified fault zones. Localized mining at the site began as early as 1521 during the Ming Dynasty when the ore was initially mistaken for tin, but systematic mining and commercial exploitation for antimony commenced in 1897. Following modernization and expansion into large-scale underground operations after 1949, the mine has operated continuously for over a century, remaining a dominant producer of the global antimony supply well into the 2020s.

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