.4" Cubic Fluorite Crystal with Phantoms - Yaogangxian Mine

Cubic Fluorite Crystal with Phantoms - Yaogangxian Mine #215760

This is a small fluorite crystal that formed in association with bladed calcite crystals. The crystal contains purple and blue phantoms, with splotches of purple scattered throughout. It was collected from the Yaogangxian Mine in the Hunan Province of China. Under short-wave ultraviolet light, this crystal exhibits a vibrant purple fluorescence.

This specimen has been mounted to an acrylic display base with mineral tack.

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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