Wakabayashilite with Realgar, Orpiment

specimen number:
2133320

location:
Zareh Shuran Mine, Takab Co., West Azerbaijan, Iran

description:
Yellow micro crystalline wakabayashilite on matrix with realgar and orpiment.

The Zareh Shuran mine, located in the Takab region of West Azerbaijan Province in northwestern Iran, is recognized as one of the largest active gold deposits in the Middle East. The regional geology centers on a Precambrian metamorphic and sedimentary sequence, where carbonaceous shales, sandstones, and Chaldagh limestones are heavily fractured by complex fault systems and altered by Neogene hydrothermal activity associated with nearby volcanism. This setting created a specialized Carlin-like gold deposit where invisible, micron-sized gold particles are trapped within pyrite and arsenopyrite, accompanied by an exceptional assembly of arsenic, antimony, and thallium minerals including realgar, orpiment, stibnite, and rare species like wakabayashilite. Localized surface quarrying for bright yellow orpiment pigment occurred at the site for centuries, but modern exploration and industrial open-pit development for gold extraction began under state direction in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following the construction of a large-scale, automated processing plant utilizing chemical oxidation techniques, official industrial gold production commenced in November 2014, with mining and high-capacity quarrying continuing continuously through the mid-2020s.

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