Liroconite

Unknown Owner

A very fine and rich small cabinet specimen of Liroconite from its type locality at Wheal Gorland in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall. This famous mining district is now surrounded and built over by the village of St. Day, just east of Redruth. Excellent blue to blueish-green, wedge-shaped Liroconite crystals richly line five prominent vugs across a good deal of the display face of a rusty to cream Quartz gossan matrix. A large central Liroconite crystal measuring 6 mm is exceptional, while most crystals are in the 1 to 2 mm range. Liroconite can also to be seen in several other areas of the specimen with patches of white Halloysite. Olive green micro-crystals of Olivenite are concentrated on one side of the specimen. Specimens such as this were most probably mined during the early years of the mine as they were found in the shallower, near-surface zone of the orebody, so dating the specimen to the mid to late 1700s. A truly great Liroconite from this old and most famous of Cornish copper mines.