VILLAMANINITE

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

This fine example of the exceptionally rare species Villamanínite is from its type locality at Providencia mine at Villanueva de Pontedo, Cármenes, León, Castile and Leon, Spain. Villamanínite is a copper sulphide also containing nickel, cobalt and iron. Intriguingly, the species name (Villamanínite) does not directly reflect the type locality name (Villanueva) because it was named for the municipality and not the mine itself. The mine is in the municipality of Cármenes, but the researchers who named the species confused this with the municipality in which the ore was loaded into railway wagons which was the municipality of Villamanín. The name was accepted without the mistake being recognised and so then, with no pun intended, became set in stone! May I also point out this specimens is not to be confused with the sodium fluoride Villiaumite (most famous from Aris quarry (Namibia) and Mont St. Hilaire (Canada). Crude octahedral crystals and granular black Villamanínite pervade a slightly off-white massive Dolomite matrix. A rich and rare specimen of Villamanínite from its type locality at Providencia mine in Cármenes, Spain.