Wulfenite with Calcite

specimen number:
2292360

location:
Erupcion Mine, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico

description:
Caramel colored tabular crystals of slightly translucent wulfenite to 1.0 cm in size on matrix with crystallized white calcite. In good condition.

The Erupcion Mine, also known as the Erupcion-Ahumada mine, is located in the Sierra Los Lamentos of northern Chihuahua, Mexico. Geologically, the deposit consists of a tabular, lead-zinc orebody hosted within heavily folded Cretaceous limestone. Over millions of years, circulating oxygen-rich waters completely oxidized the primary sulfide ores down to the water table, transforming them into secondary minerals. Because of the low silver content in these oxidized lead ores, the remote desert locality attracted little attention from early Spanish explorers, with formal mining only beginning in the early twentieth century. Before water management issues forced the mine to close in 1931, the deposit produced hundreds of thousands of tons of lead ore, primarily cerussite. During operations and subsequent specimen recovery efforts, the mine gained notoriety among collectors for producing blocky, deep orange crystals of wulfenite, as well as brown vanadinite.

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