Straczekite with Duttonite

specimen number:
2133302

location:
Union Carbide Mine, Garland Co., Arkansas, USA

description:
Excellent rich crystallized straczekite with duttonite across the front of matrix.

The Union Carbide Mine, located at Wilson Springs near Potash Sulphur Springs in Garland County, Arkansas, was an open-pit mining operation focused on the extraction of vanadium ore. Geologically, the deposit sits within the contact metamorphic aureole of a Cretaceous-aged alkalic igneous complex, where intense hydrothermal alteration of sedimentary host rocks created a highly complex suite of minerals, including niobium-bearing rutile, vanadium-rich aegirine, and a broad array of secondary vanadium silicate and oxide minerals. Union Carbide Corporation began commercial quarrying and open-pit mining at the site in 1967 to supply their nearby vanadium processing plant, utilizing specialized extraction methods to handle the complex, fine-grained ore. The mine maintained steady operations for over two decades until economic factors and ore depletion led to the permanent cessation of mining activities in 1990, after which the open pits were closed and subjected to environmental reclamation.

Straczekite and duttonite are rare vanadium-bearing minerals that typically form in the oxidized zones of vanadium-bearing ore deposits. Straczekite is a complex calcium barium potassium vanadate mineral that crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually occurring as dark greenish-black to black fibrous aggregates or thin coatings. Duttonite is a simpler vanadium oxide hydroxide mineral, formula VO(OH)2, which also crystallizes in the monoclinic system and typically presents as pale brown to dark brown six-sided plates or encrustations.

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