Rhodochrosite

Almost every collector, or, even not collector loves this "strawberry-flavored" carbonate---rhodochrosite. Especially for the one from Sweet Home mine, one of the most legendary, and the best localities for this species.

The Alma mining district in central Colorado has a long history of gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc production dating from pre-1850‘s Spanish gold prospecting to the present, although this isolated mineral occurrence has been generally unproductive for base and precious metals, but is mineralogically unique, containing a suite of well-crystallized minerals for which it has become famous.

Rhodochrosites are mainly found in silver ore vines, commonly associated with sphalerite, tetrahedrite etc., isotopic studies suggested that the sulfide mineralization at the Sweet Home Mine formed from magmatic fluids that mixed with variable amounts of externally derived fluids e.g. manganese and carbonate probably due to the mixing of fluids that derived from surrounding sedimentary rocks.

A question always interests me is how to get such pure MnCO3 in the real geology system if calcium presidents (sounds reasonable ah）. Some research suggest elemental substitution is the key factor but I still feel that's limit to get a nearly endmember through this way.

I purchased this cutie from a collector who released his collections last year and I got lucky. I am always dreaming to get a good one for my collection, however, not even few good thumbnails that I saw from shows for years.

Most of these are prepared or restored because of the perfect cleavage and many of them were damaged during extraction/transportation. But I'd leave it as what it is for this guy. I am still looking for a thumbnail/toenail, large single crystal perches on a black matrix with tiny fluorite. The solution is to go to bed.

3.6cm, Collectors Pocket, Sweet Home Mine, Mount Bross, Alma Mining District, Park County, Colorado, USA

Jingnan Zhang Coll & Photo