Stibnite with Calcite

specimen number:
9302300

location:
Xikuangshan mine, Loudi, Hunan, China

description:

Fine cluster of lustrous stibnite crystals associated with rhombohedral crystals of calcite. In great condition all around.

The Xikuangshan mine, located near Lengshuijiang city in Hunan Province, China, is the largest antimony deposit in the world. Geologically, the ore field is situated within a regional syncline hosted by Devonian limestone and shale sequences, where massive mineralization occurs within silicified limestone strata beneath a capping layer of impermeable shale. The deposit is categorized as a low-temperature, strata-bound hydrothermal system, featuring massive bodies of stibnite, which frequently occurs alongside quartz, fluorite, calcite, and various secondary antimony oxides. Local mining activity began as early as 1521 during the Ming Dynasty, when the ore was initially mistaken for tin, but true corporate and industrial-scale extraction of antimony commenced around 1897. The mine saw massive production peaks during World War I and World War II due to global military demand for antimony alloys, transitioning into a centralized state-run operation after 1949 under the Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Antimony Company. Large-scale underground mining, open-pit quarrying, and smelting operations have run continuously for well over a century, with ongoing mechanized extraction and deep-level development extending into the twenty-first century.

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