Boracite

$140.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

Crystal ClassicsFeatured

Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

Boulby mine must rank as one of the most inaccessible mineral localities in Britain - accessed via a 1 km deep shaft followed by tens of miles of underground roadways deep beneath the North Sea. Thankfully, some of its mineralogical treasures have been raised to the surface, otherwise we would have little knowledge of this important deposit. Boracite - magnesium chloro-borate - is one of these, and is the scourge of the mine operators due to its great hardness impacting the effectiveness of their underground cutting machines. This small miniature is a pure Boracite aggregate, made up of many intergrown pale grey-blue spheroidal crystals (individually to 1.5 mm in diameter) but with gaps between making it a porous mass. Worldwide, Boracite is extremely rare, making specimens from Boulby mine very important. Ex Malcolm Southwood collection.