NATIVE Lead - Värmland County, Sweden

NATIVE Lead

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A rich miniature of rare Native Lead from the famous Harstigen mine in Värmland, Sweden. Harstigen was a small iron-manganese mine which produced only 356 tonnes of lead and 153 tonnes of manganese yet has 146 mineral species recorded of which it is Type Locality to twelve. Crystals of Native Lead measuring to 0.5 cm abundantly cover a granular Quartz matrix intermixed with massive Native Lead. The Native Lead is a characteristic metallic dark lead grey, with some white areas of Hydrocerussite. Although lead is a relatively common element in the Earth's crust, occurrences in its native state are extremely rare because of its strong tendency to form compounds with other elements. Remarkably, fine rich specimens of Native Lead were found in at least two mines in the Värmland region of Sweden - Harstigen mine and Långban mine, but material is now scarce. This is a tremendous specimen of Native Lead from Harstigen mine in the mining district of Pajsberg, Sweden.