Witherite

$350.00

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Hilton mine located on what is known as the 'Escarpment' on the western edge of the northern Pennines is an iconic locality for amber coloured Fluorite, but it has also produced some interesting barium minerals too, including Witherite. Hilton mine is one of the few places in the North Pennines Orefield where the Fluorite and barium zones overlap. The Witherite found there is quite distinctive, forming 'equant' crystals and crystal aggregates - probably a combination of tapering pseudohexagonal crystals and hexagonal bipyramids - on Calcite. The Witherite crystals show alteration to secondary Baryte, forming an outer crust. The Witherite crystals reach up to 1.8 cm across. Several of the Witherite crystals have lost small parts of their surface coating of Baryte revealing the residual naturally etched Witherite core and showing how thick the Baryte layer is. The combination of Witherite crystals on Calcite is very unusual for the UK and this is a lovely small display specimen of this unusual occurrence.