Vanadinite

specimen number:
1052734

location:
Taouz Caidat, Er-Rissani Cercle, Errachidia, Draa-Tafilalet, Morocco

description:

Attractive lustrous red crystals of vanadinite to 0.5 cm in size across the top of matrix. Some damage present as seen, overall still in good condition.

The Taouz Caidat mineral locality, situated near Erfoud in the Errachidia Province of southeastern Morocco, encompasses a series of prominent open-cut trenches and shallow underground mining operations famous for unique secondary lead and manganese minerals. Geologically, the district is located within the Anti-Atlas Orogenic Belt, featuring a series of Paleozoic-age sedimentary strata, primarily Devonian limestones and sandstones, that were heavily fractured by regional fault systems. Hydrothermal fluids migrating through these fault fissures deposited primary lead, iron, and manganese sulfides, which later underwent intense, deep-reaching supergene oxidation under arid desert conditions to create exceptional pockets of vanadinite, pyromorphite, cerussite, and highly lustrous black goethite pseudomorphs after pyrite. Historically, localized surface digging and artisanal smelting were carried out by indigenous populations for centuries, but formalized commercial extraction intensified under French colonial administration during the mid-twentieth century, specifically targeting lead and manganese ore from the 1940s through the 1960s. While large-scale industrial operations subsided after this era due to economic changes and the erratic nature of the veins, the site was never truly abandoned; instead, a highly active network of local artisanal miners and cooperatives has continuously operated the open cuts and shallow shafts from the 1970s all the way through 2026 to supply specimens to the global mineral trade.

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