Veszelyite

specimen number:
9302295

location:
Sanguozhuang, Dongchuan, Yunnan, China

description:

Beautiful blue crystals of veszelyite groupings to 0.7 cm in size on matrix. This is in good condition and quite choice for the species.

The Sanguozhuang mine, situated in the Dongchuan district of Kunming Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, is a notable copper deposit that has produced fine copper silicate and phosphate mineral specimens. Geologically, the deposit is located within the prolific Dongchuan copper belt, characterized by stratabound and vein-type mineralization hosted in Proterozoic sedimentary sequences, particularly dolostone and shale formations. Supergene oxidation of primary copper sulfides by descending meteoric waters led to the development of a distinct secondary mineral zone within fractures and solution cavities, yielding minerals such as hemimorphite, chrysocolla, and veszelyite. Industrial-scale mining and smelting in the broader Dongchuan district date back thousands of years to the Han and Tang dynasties, supplying copper for Chinese imperial coinage. Large-scale modern underground and open-pit mining operations at Sanguozhuang peaked during the mid-to-late twentieth century under state-run enterprises to feed local metallurgical complexes, with structural restructuring and specialized mineral specimen recovery continuing into the twenty-first century.

Veszelyite is a rare secondary copper zinc phosphate mineral that typically forms in the weathered, oxidized zones of base-metal copper deposits. It occurs as sharp, translucent prismatic or tabular crystals that exhibit a distinctive dark blue to greenish-blue color, frequently perched on a matrix of quartz, hemimorphite, or iron oxides.

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