Betekhtinite

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Originally described from two mines in Germany during the 1950s it was not until 1998 that really rich highly visible crystallized aggregates of Betekhtinite (a rare copper-iron-lead sulphide) were discovered, in the Dzhezkazgan Mining District in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan and these have never been bettered since. This excellent miniature size specimen, is a mass of aligned black metallic bladed Betekhtinite crystals forming a column-like structure and terminated by numerous individual euhedral (complete) crystals and cleaved tips, the latter due to contact with the original in-situ host rock. The rich copper-zinc deposit at Dzhezkazgan is hosted in a succession of Upper Carboniferous sandstone bodies. This is a remarkably good specimen from that important find. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).