Mixed Minerals from China!

This is one of the most unique specimens I have yet seen from Yindu—I have no idea when it was found, nor (to reiterate my use of the word “unique”) have I seen any others from this pocket. This has a very hefty spinel twin, it has a purple core surrounded by a vividly blue ring, all this is surrounded by a saturated green layer. The outer layer is fluorescent.

This would be less unusual from Erongo, a locality known for its large spinel twins and this green color (though I have yet to see a green twin...) however this clearly is not from that location-- the parallel purple cores are a hallmark of these oddly elongated fluorites crystals from Yindu.  

While already impressive without special lighting, backlighting reveals the internal features. I have seen purple spinel twins from this mine—in fact I offered some here a few months ago, but those tended to be flatter and none even came close to this length, width, and they had totally different color (purple). 

Terrible pictures, video available on request. 

A nice Chinese silver, this one has reasonably thick wires, one of which is connecting two separate pieces of matrix.  Really cheap for what it is! Dimensions are from the tip of the longest wire, to the bottom point of the matrix.

I’m always weary of fake silver, I try to find specimens with wires running through/ frozen in their matrixes (preferably NOT acanthite because the wire growth can be induced—though natural ones do exist) or with random bits or rock clinging to the wires—preferably thicker and with some sedimentation and/or oxidation as this is harder to fake. As an example of why, at the shop a couple doors down from where I purchased this one, I was shown another two specimens with bright curly wires, on a suspiciously heavy and silver-rich matrix ….. I’d be willing to bet that was just a “sculpture,” real as it may have looked.  

A really nice Daye calcite. This one has a doubly terminated perfectly positioned atop a piece of matrix. There is even a small crystal just below it, giving a bit of visual balance. I have seen quite a bit of this material at this point, though it often seems that there is always a chip in exactly the wrong spot, or the crystals are just not pleasantly arranged, or fully formed, or there is always a reason why it’s “almost” buyable, but then there is some disqualifying factor….

 This one is not entirely perfect either, but it was definitely not disqualified- if you look at it directly from the right side, there is a small, shallow cleave below the termination (so the termination is intact) but this is not visible from either the front, or the back (see side image). Even this level of almost perfection is hard to find—after looking through endless Daye calcite I feel I can say this with some experience to back up my claim. 

A very pretty example of vividly blue fluorite with purple concentrated near the corners, on transparent quartz. There is some dark goethite or some other mineral on the quartz as well, I think it adds a nice bit of color contrast.  Internal cleave on outermost corner, but not broken. 

Not Yaogangxian! The array of common species from this mine closely mimics Yaogangxian, as do the combinations and appearances of the specimens from here, but this is actually a much less well known location in Guangxi Province (directly south of Hunan) that produced specimens several years ago. This one has a light blie fluorite crystal clinging to a quartz crystal with a bit of accompanying calcite.

I really like this one—not huge but very saturated color. This one has a sharp crystal with purple core and a saturated green outer zone, all on a plate of quartz crystals.  For me what distinguishes a good Yindu fluorite from an average one is the need for backlighting—and this one needs none for the color to really pop. 

An interesting specimen from a recent discovery in Xinjiang Prov., from a locality described as somewhere “near Aksu.” The back is a mixture of etching and contacting, the front is something of a compound face formed by numerous separate cubes, creating an interesting topography—it’s really quite reminiscent of some of the southern Illinois material, a bit like Hasties quarry.

 There is still not a lot of this around, but I tried to find pieces that has a pleasing overall shape—almost none (so far) have matrix, but “bad shape” seemed to be the main problem that these had.

 The color is purple and a bit darker in person—light is passing through making it seem a bit lighter.  

While Daye is probably one of the most prolific calcite producing localities in the world, this type of twin has remained uncommon at the various mines in the area. A specimen hosts a fishtail twin on a bit of calcite, with several similarly colored scalenohedrons. 

A nice example of what has come to be referred to as “porcelain fluorite,” perhaps because of the light blue, translucent appearance imparted by cloudy inclusions. This one has a cubic aggregate with the typical color, outlined by a thin purple zone, all on a quartz matrix.  The main crystal is flanked by a group of very lightly pink calcites, adding a nice bit of spatial balance and chromatic contrast.

A spectacular example of blue plumbogummite after pyromorphite on matrix, from a discovery made just a few days ago (I'm writing this on March 5th, 2024).  These pseudomorphs first appeared around 10 years ago, in the years since there have been a number of different habits and styles-- I am more partial to the brighter blues and sharper crystals.  Unfortunately the specimens incorporating both those characteristics have generally had smaller crystals-- this recent pocket however had a few with bigger crystals (than usual, for being this sharp). I only selected a few, this was my favorite from the bunch- I think the color, size, sharpness and arrangement of the crystals made this one quite good!

A cabinet specimen of green fluorite on contrasting white quartz.  Whether green or purple,  fluorite/quartz combinations are known from a number of Chinese localities, with variations particular to each one. These have been one of the "mineralogical constants" in the hobby as far back as I can remember--one mine may close and its particular variety may become scarce, but so far, there has always been another one to replace it. I suppose it's not really surprising given that China has the world's largest industrial fluorite deposits, and these are a byproduct of those mines-- Xiefang is just one such deposit and the vein systems stretch for 10 kilometers! 

An interesting calcite from Fujian Province---this is complete on both the front and back, with a portion of the bottom being a contact, and a portion being etching—fortunately from the front, you just see an etched bottom edge, making it look quite complete.

 I did see more examples of this material, a few were jumbled clusters of these crystal on matrix, others with small and thin, some were oddly truncated. This one seemed to have good symmetry, size, and completeness, and the bit of zoning is quite interesting as well.

 I can imagine this on a custom base at a big show, with a 4 figure price tag, just waiting for a sucker.

A nice example of smoky quartz on a cluster of feldspar crystals, from Fujian Province. Interestingly, some of the feldspar seems to be an epitaxial growth over earlier feldspar—as you can see in one of the close-ups—it would also explain why some of the feldspar clusters that make up the matrix retain the general outline of larger single crystals. 

A spectacular example of blue plumbogummite after pyromorphite on matrix, from a discovery made just a few days ago (I'm writing this on March 5th, 2024).  These pseudomorphs first appeared around 10 years ago, in the years since there have been a number of different habits and styles.  This one combines sharp blue pseudomorphs with some that are still mostly pyromorphite, the end result is a beautiful combination of blue and green that is really quite stunning-- especially with the saturation of the blue from this pocket.

Although rather 2D there was something about this that caught my eye in a room full of random Dachang material—iyou have to look at it from a little closer to really appreciate it, but there was just something really pretty about that radiating cluster of brownish creedite on a piece of rock covered with tiny purple fluorite cubes.  I had originally intended to trim the top portion, then display it with the main creedite cluster on top, but I decided to leave it as is.  There’s lots of creedite from this locality, quite a bit of fluorite as well, but decent combination pieces are a bit less frequently encountered.

A very rich scheelite specimen from the Chashan Mine, in the Xianghualing Mining Area (best known for its ultra-transparent green fluorites). These were discovered around 2019, and were notable for the sheer quantity of crystals on individual specimens, as well as for their unusual white color. Prior to this find, the main occurrences had been at Mt. Xuebaoding (the familiar orange ones, usually on mica) , Yaogangxian (dark brownish, occasionally with purple hues, sometimes spread out small groups) and Huanggang, in Inner Mongolia (opaque, whitish to gray.) 

A thumbnail sized crystal of fluorite from the Yindu Mine, this one has a hazy blue-purple octahedral core frozen in very transparent green cubes. Dimensions are diagonals.

A pretty example of siderite from Bijie, in Guizhou. These have particularly good luster, and a pleasing overall shape.

As far as the simple, more common rhombohedral carbonates go, siderite (iron) is the one that no one wants. Rhodochrosite (manganese) is highly sought after and high valued, calcite (the most common) has a strong following, but siderite….. understandably overlooked. With that said, there aren’t a whole lot of places where you can get truly good lustrous crystals—Mont St. Hiliare specimens are probably the most abundant, then Isere, France, then a number of many localities with interesting aggregates, disks, pseudomorphs, etc… but not so many with larger, lustrous single crystals.

A great example of blue plumbogummite after pyromorphite on matrix, from a discovery made just a few days ago (I'm writing this on March 5th, 2024).  These pseudomorphs first appeared around 10 years ago, in the years since there have been a number of different habits and styles-- I am more partial to the brighter blues and sharper crystals.  Unfortunately the specimens incorporating both those characteristics have generally had smaller crystals-- this recent pocket however had a few with bigger crystals (than usual, for being this sharp).

A very pretty calcite from a recent find, this one is a “pagoda” with a chalcopyrite coating, the chalcopyrite has naturally been etched, resulting in the beautiful iridescence. There is a contact on the right side, visible in the picture. 

While I typically prefer crystals that don’t need strong backlighting to appreciate, sometimes the patterns that emerge call for an exception. This looks like a normal bluish-purple octahedrally modified cube, but with some lighting you can quickly see that “alien eye” pattern that is so well-liked, and reminiscent of the Erongo material. 

 This pocket was more notable for the similarly colored crystals that occurred with a pyrite dusting—the tiny, bright pyrite crystals and deep purple-blues made for a particularly attractive contrast—but most were a bit flat and so didn’t display both “eyes”, it just looked like concentric zoning.

 I couldn’t capture the internal features with my camera, so I am including a screenshot from a video I took—as well as a link to the video itself. I think the color in person is a but ore of a pleasant hazy purple-blue…the intensity of the light accentuates the pattern, but at the expense of the color. 

A great example of "ruby jack" sphalerite from a recent find in Jiangxi, the crystals on this piece are somewhat larger than the average from this discovery, and they have a rather bright reddish orange color. Reasonably sizable as well! 

A beautifully balanced combination specimen of calcite with fluorite from Xianghualing. This specimen combines this mine’s characteristic light green, water clear fluorite cubes with a centrally positioned calcite crystal.  Really quite aesthetic for this sort of material.

A cabinet sized specimen of inky blue fluorite on a contrasting white matrix, with interspersed siderite disks. There is a white powdery material on the sides of the fluorites, not really visible form the angels pictured. 

A nice example of purple fluorite with quartz, from the Yaogangxian Mine. 

A pair of calcite crystals on a cluster of fluorite crystals. Unlike the usual greens from this mine, the fluorites have a dark color caused by some unknown inclusion, it increases the contrast with the white calcite—the main one sitting nicely atop the cluster of fluorites, which are complete on both the front and back.  

As someone who used to collect only pyromorphite, I always like to see examples from unusual localities. This one comes from Jiangxi Province, from one of the mines that produce that red quartz that has been on the market for the last several years—the matrix is actually quartz of a similar habit (though I don’t know if red), heavily coated with oxide material—and it’s over that coating that the pyromorphite has managed to crystallize.

 99% of Chinese pyromorphite comes from the mines near Gongcheng—this collection of workings has been producing specimens since 1999, with various habits and qualities unearthed over the years. While this would be considered quite crappy for that locality, it is still special as there are next to no examples reported from this area...

As someone who used to collect only pyromorphite, I always like to see example from unusual localities. This one comes from Fujian Province, the information I was given is that it came from somewhere near Xiamen--it's obviously not from the city itself but probably an old mine somewhere nearby.  Interestingly, some other pieces in the lot had very tiny (~2 mm) wulfenite crystals which in itself corroborates what I was told about these not being from the more prolific Daoping/Yangshuo localities near Gongcheng.  Sadly the wulfenite combinations only had very poorly crystalized pyromorphte—sparse crusts at best—but I did find this one that was reasonably well crystalized. 

Botryoidal yellow fluorite from a recent find in Henan Prov., these aren’t backlit or oiled. Interesting reference piece from this unusual material—especially considering the bulk of Chinese fluorite is macrocrystalline. 

Botryoidal yellow fluorite from a recent find in Henan Prov., These aren’t backlit or oiled. Interesting reference piece from this unusual material—especially considering the bulk of Chinese fluorite is macrocrystalline. 

While specimen production in Inner Mongolia has decreased substantially over the last few years, largely owing to a crackdown on collecting at the Hunaggang Mine, some of the nearby localities it previously eclipsed continue to produce at a slower pace, for example Shijiangshan (rare borates), Yindu (fluorite), or in this case, Dongwu Qi.  This is a hefty magnetite crystal with interesting surface texture—like virtually all of these, it is only displayable from one side (it grew tightly packed along side others.)  There has been more of this material recently but finding examples with a satisfactory level of completeness and decent shape isn’t easy. 

An interesting specimen from a recent discovery in Xinjiang Prov., from a locality described as somewhere “near Aksu.” The back is a mixture of etching and contacting, the front is something of a compound face formed by numerous separate cubes, creating an interesting topography—it’s really quite reminiscent of some of the southern Illinois material, a bit like Hasties quarry.

This one is interesting etched all around-- I've included both photos from the front, and one from the back (last picture) 

The color is purple and a bit darker in person—light is passing through making it seem a bit lighter.  

A rich scheelite specimen from the Chashan Mine, in the Xianghualing Mining Area, best known for its ultra-transparent green fluorites.  There is actually one of those transparent fluorites on the display face. These were discovered around 2019, and were notable for the sheer quantity of crystals on individual specimens, as well as for their unusual white color. Prior to this find, the main occurrences had been at Mt. Xuebaoding (the familiar orange ones, usually on mica) , Yaogangxian (dark brownish, occasionally with purple hues, sometimes spread out small groups) and Huanggang, in Inner Mongolia (opaque, whitish to gray.)