Quartz with Arsenopyrite Dolomite, Sphalerite and Pyrite - image 1

Quartz with Arsenopyrite Dolomite, Sphalerite and Pyrite

Unknown Owner
A spectacular combination of minerals form this most pleasing cabinet specimen from Yaogangxian mine in Yizhang County, Hunan Province, China; a tin and tungsten deposit hosted in a Mesozoic granite pluton intruded into Cambrian-Devonian sediments (mainly sandstones) and Jurassic limestones. The specimen is dominated by a 7.8 x 5.4 x 5.2 cm, transparent to translucent, colourless to light grey Quartz crystal with a perfect termination. Two and a half faces of the Quartz prism are encrusted with honeycomb-like, crystallised, snow white Dolomite and around the base are rich micro-druses of white Quartz plus crystals of Pyrite (more likely Chalcopyrite) and Sphalerite. A superb, 2.2 cm wide silver Arsenopyrite crystal is also present. The base reveals a mixture of green and purple Fluorite. A super combination from Yaogangxian mine, China.

Product details

Species
Quartz, Pyrite, Dolomite, Sphalerite, ArsenopyriteAbout Quartz →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions7.8 x 7.2 x 8.7 cm
Added on12/02/2024
Locality
China, Hunan, Yaogangxian MineRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
06/2026Unknown Owner$250.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot disclosed

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 Yaogangxian Mine, China
from the Yaogangxian Mine is rarely collected as an isolated species in the way one might pursue Alpine gwindels or Arkansas plates. Its power is as the luminous architecture of a complex tungsten-tin hydrothermal system: glassy points spearing through metallic bournonite, milky to water-clear groups carrying purple fluorite cubes, quartz prisms dusted with pyrite or arsenopyrite, and sharp crystals acting as the pale stage on which scheelite, muscovite, dolomite, calcite, stibnite, stannite, rhodochrosite, and chlorite play out one of China’s great specimen assemblages.