2.3" Colorful Cubic Fluorite Crystals with Phantoms - Yaogangxian Mine

Colorful Cubic Fluorite Crystals with Phantoms - Yaogangxian Mine #217402

This is a stunning cluster of cubic fluorite crystals with purple outer phantoms, underlying blue-green phantoms, and gorgeous purple cores. It was collected from the Yaogangxian Mine in the Hunan Province of China. A unique characteristic of this fluorite is that under short-wave ultraviolet light, the crystals exhibits a purple fluorescence throughout, with vibrant fluorescent phantoms along the edges just beneath the exterior, and spots of orange fluorescence that are likely caused by inclusions or impurities.

The Yaogangxian mine is a tungsten-tin deposit in the Nanling Mountains of Hunan, China. The mine field is about 4 x 2.5 kliometers (2.5 x 1.5 miles) and includes two primary deposits: the Yaogangxian quartz vein-type tungsten-tin deposit, and the Heshangtan skarn-type tungsten-tin deposit.

The Yaogangxian deposit (with minor greisen-style mineralization) has been mined since 1914 and hosts minor copper, tungsten, silver, lead, zinc, and bismuth minerals. The Heshangtan deposit has been mined since the 1960s and hosts a variety of associated silver ores. Both of these deposits are a result of the Mesozoic Yaogangxian pluton, composed of biotite-granite, porphyritic granite and quartz porphyry, which intruded into Cambrian-Devonian sediments and Jurassic limestones.

A variety of high quality mineral specimens are collected from this site. Some of the most popular minerals include arsenopyrite, bismuthinite, manganese-bearing calcite (manganocalcite), chalcopyrite, ferberite, fluorite, hübnerite, molybdenite, pyrite, rhodochrosite, siderite, stibnite, topaz, and tungstite.

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