Vivianite

specimen number:
1052824

location:
Ibex Mine, Leadville, Colorado, USA

description:
A loose cluster of vivianite crystals with little attached matrix. This piece dates to the very early 20th century. In good condition with very minimal damage present.

The Ibex mine, also known as the Little Jonny mine, located on Breece Hill in Leadville, Lake County, Colorado, is a historic precious- and base-metal underground operation. Geologically, the deposit sits within the Leadville mining district, where complex structural faulting and the intrusion of porphyritic igneous rocks created favorable zones for extensive mineral deposition. The ore bodies occur primarily as manto-style replacement deposits within Paleozoic carbonate rocks, particularly the Mississippian Leadville Dolomite, where hydrothermal fluids rich in precious metals replaced the host rock with high-grade native gold, silver, galena, and sphalerite. Underground mining operations began around 1879 with the discovery of silver-bearing carbonates, but the property achieved major historical significance after John F. Campion and his associates organized the Ibex Mining Company in 1891 and discovered massive, deep-seated gold-bearing copper sulfide ores in 1893. This discovery helped revive the Leadville economy following the silver crash, and the mine operated continuously through a network of deep shafts, including the Ibex number four, until declining ore grades, water management costs, and changing economic conditions led to the cessation of primary operations in the mid-twentieth century.

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