Austinite from Gold Hill Mine, Gold Hill, Utah, USA - image 1

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Austinite from Gold Hill Mine, Gold Hill, Utah, USA

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An attractive sparkling blue crystallized ball of adamite 0.8 cm in diameter set in the center of this limonite matrix, the entire crystal surrounded by sparkling colorless gemmy crystals of austinite to 0.2 cm in size. Nice little combination piece in very good condition. The Gold Hill Mine, located in the Deep Creek Mountains of Tooele County, Utah, is a world-renowned locality situated within a complex central Basin and Range geological setting featuring Paleozoic sedimentary rocks intruded by a Jurassic granodiorite stock. Hydrothermal mineralization along contact zones produced extensive skarn and ore deposits rich in copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten, alongside massive arsenic-rich vein systems. Mined heavily from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, especially for copper and later for critical war supplies of arsenic, the district eventually gained international fame among mineral collectors for its extraordinary diversity of secondary copper and calcium arsenate minerals. Collectors worldwide celebrate Gold Hill as the type locality for prized species such as austinite, conichalcite, and mineralogically rare specimens like tyrolite and adamite.