Calcite with Barite (1250) - Elmwood Mine, Tennessee, USA

Calcite with Barite (1250)

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A gem loose, amber colored, glassy double terminated calcite crystal from the famous Elmwood Mine, Tennessee, presented without matrix and in great condition. The Elmwood Mine, located in Smith County within the Central Tennessee Zinc District, is a famous underground mining operation that began commercial production in the early 1970s under the Jersey Miniere Zinc Company. Geologically, the deposits are Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) ore bodies hosted within the Ordovician-aged Lebanon and Ridley limestones, where warm, metal-rich brines circulated through fractures and dissolution cavities, precipitating lead and zinc sulfides alongside spectacular accessory minerals. Historically, the mine is world-renowned not just for its zinc production, but for yielding some of the finest, most breathtaking mineral specimens ever discovered, including large attractive calcite crystals, fluorite, sphalerite, and barite.