Hübnerite with Quartz

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Pasto Bueno is one of the most remote and spectacular of mining villages in Peru. Located at an altitude of over 4,000 m above sea level it is not just oxygen that is in short supply, but roads too. This mining area is also the source of some of Peru's most spectacular mineral specimens, including world-class Rhodochrosite and Hübnerite crystals. Despite both being manganese-bearing minerals it is tungsten and silver-lead that are the main reasons for these mines. This cabinet specimen of Hübnerite - manganese tungstate - features 7 cm long, terminated, black bladed Hübnerite crystals rising like skewers up through an aggregate of Quartz crystals. The Hübnerite crystals are large and very prominent for what is an unusual species, but there is some noticeable damage to the terminations. Many are intact, but there are so many parallel bladed crystals that some have inevitably been chipped. This is, nevertheless, a fine example of larger Hübnerite crystals, from this important, and remote, location in the Andes.