Two New Mexican Finds!

While the Milpillas Mine is best known for its spectacular azurite specimens, it has also produced particularly good examples of a number of other species-- native copper, brochantite, volborthite, and cuprite to name a few.  The latest surprise from this mine has been shattuckite.  The last decade has seen a couple good finds of this species, most notably in Namibia and Congo, and now those are joined by these Mexican examples.

While the Milpillas Mine is best known for its spectacular azurite specimens, it has also produced particularly good examples of a number of other species-- native copper, brochantite, volborthite, and cuprite to name a few.  The latest surprise from this mine has been shattuckite.  The last decade has seen a couple good finds of this species, most notably in Namibia and Congo, and now those are joined by these Mexican examples.

While the Milpillas Mine is best known for its spectacular azurite specimens, it has also produced particularly good examples of a number of other species-- native copper, brochantite, volborthite, and cuprite to name a few.  The latest surprise from this mine has been shattuckite.  The last decade has seen a couple good finds of this species, most notably in Namibia and Congo, and now those are joined by these Mexican examples.

A very good example of rare austinite from a find made a few months ago at the Ojuela Mine.  This one is something of a limonite vug containing a number of yellowish clusters of the mineral.  Some of them have a bit of edge wear, but the piece is exactly as shown, and I particularly liked this one for its size and the central position of the austinite clusters.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples o the species nonetheless.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples o the species nonetheless.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples o the species nonetheless.

A rich example of rare arsendescloizite, with a secondary growth of yellow mimetite over it.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples of the species nonetheless.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples o the species nonetheless.

One of the interesting finds out of Ojuela in recent months have been these very rich specimens of arsendescloizite, a rare lead, zinc bearing arsenate.  While it was discovered at Tsumeb, the best specimens arguably came from Ojuela in the late 1980's.  It was a small find however, and today (if you can find one) those pieces command prices in the thousands of dollars.  There have been next to none recovered since then. These do not quite have the same saturated green color, but are exceptionally rich examples o the species nonetheless.

A nice example of shattuckite from a recent find at the Milpillas Mine-- not entirely perfect (there is some scuffing, this is nearly unavoidable) but the piece is exactly as shown.

A nice example of shattuckite from a recent find at the Milpillas Mine--this one retains the botryoidal form of the shattuckite, but seems to have an overgrowth of lighter colored minerals (aurichalcite and quartz?)

A nice example of shattuckite from a recent find at the Milpillas Mine, with shattuckite on a couple different sides. There is some contacting, but the piece is exactly as shown.

A nice example of shattuckite from a recent find at the Milpillas Mine, with good botryoidal form. Not entirely perfect, but the piece is exactly as shown.

A nice example of shattuckite from a recent find at the Milpillas Mine-- not entirely perfect  but the piece is exactly as shown.

A great thumbnail-sized example of austinite, from a find made a few months back.  There were hardly any good thumbnails from this find, most tended to be plates of varying sizes.  This one has a contact on the reverse, but excellent form, and I particularly like that there is a bit of matrix sticking out from the bottom.

A rich and rather rare sample of green arsendescloizite from a recent find at the Ojuela Mine.  I've repeated the same historical tidbits in the descriptions of all the other pieces, so for this one I'll just say that these things look a lot like someone has smeared whole grain mustard on a rock.