Tetrahedrite - image 1

Tetrahedrite

M

MIM Museum
0 for sale
Large perfect silvery and lustrous crystal of tetrahedral shape, lined laterally and on its lower part with double terminated crystals of colorless quartz (the largest measuring 6.4 cm). It is remarkable that the whole is floating and intact, despite the fact that tetrahedrite is a very fragile mineral.

Product details

Species
TetrahedriteAbout Tetrahedrite →
Added on11/10/2024
Locality
Peru, Ancash, Huanzala MineRegional guide →

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Tetrahedrite
Mineral guide
Learn about Tetrahedrite
dark steel-gray to black, sharp tetrahedra with bright faces; forms in veins and skarns; prized for geometry, luster, and silver varieties.
Tetrahedrite
Regional guide
Tetrahedrite from Huanzala Mine, Peru
Huanzala “tetrahedrite” is a locality where the collector’s label and the mineralogical reality need to be read together. In older collections, dealer stock, and specimen captions, the black, highly lustrous tetrahedral sulfosalt crystals from Huanzala are commonly called tetrahedrite or tetrahedrite-tennantite. Modern work has shown that the arsenic-rich members of the group dominate at the mine: analysed Huanzala material belongs chiefly to the tennantite side, including tennantite-(Zn) and tennantite-(Fe), rather than simple antimony-dominant tetrahedrite. For collectors, that does not make the specimens less desirable; it makes good labeling more important.