Quartz from Fresnillo, Fresnillo Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico - image 1
Quartz from Fresnillo, Fresnillo Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico - image 2

Quartz from Fresnillo, Fresnillo Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico

Help improve this record

No owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

Sign in to contribute
A nest of native silver wires approximately 0.8 x 0.4 cm across set on crystallized quartz. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Alton collection.Situated in Zacatecas, Mexico, Fresnillo is a legendary mining district situated along the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental, famous for hosting some of the world's richest epithermal vein systems and mantle-hosted sulfide deposits. Formed during Tertiary igneous activity, hydrothermal solutions injected precious and base metals into fractures within Cretaceous marine sediments and volcanic rocks. Prospectors established mining operations at Fresnillo in the mid-sixteenth century following early Spanish discoveries, turning it into one of the most prolific and continuously operated silver mines in human history. Beyond commercial mining, the underground veins have supplied mineral collectors with world-class specimens of native silver, pyrargyrite, acanthite, and brilliant calcite crystal clusters over centuries of extraction.

Product details

SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions8.0 x 5.5 x 2.0 cm
Added on11/03/2026

Owners

Unknown Owner
Current owner
Acquired
Nov 2026

Learn more

Quartz
Mineral guide
Learn about Quartz
a versatile mineral with clear, milky, and colored varieties; crystal forms, formation clues, and tips for identifying amethyst and citrine.
Quartz
Regional guide
Quartz from Fresnillo
Contribute
Locality guide
Fresnillo
Fresnillo, Mexico — premier silver locality with Ag-Pb-Zn epithermal veins; coveted sulfosalts like pyrargyrite, acanthite, stephanite, polybasite on calcite.