Sphalerite

$650.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

This intriguing miniature Cassiterite with Sphalerite and Quartz is from the Viloco mine, a mine set in the spectacular Loayza Province in Bolivia, who backdrop is a landscape of magnificent mountains making the mining town appear like a tiny model village. A single, 4.3 cm long colourless and clear Quartz crystal is surrounded at its base with a cluster of intergrown Cassiterite and Sphalerite crystals. Both species are coal black but are differentiated by their lustre and habit, the Cassiterite being the more lustrous. Careful examination of the base can reveal no point of contact, so suggesting the crystal group is a floater. The highly lustrous Cassiterite crystals measure up to 1 cm across and the Sphalerite are of similar size. A choice miniature Cassiterite with Sphalerite and Quartz from the Viloco mine in Bolivia.