Arthurite

specimen number:
2354161

location:
Majuba Hill Mine, Pershing Co., Nevada, USA

description:
Deep green crystal groupings of arthurite to 0.4 cm in size sparse across the top of matrix. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of John Parnau.

The Majuba Hill Mine, located in Pershing County, Nevada, is a historically significant underground mining complex situated on a complex, highly altered Tertiary rhyolitic intrusive stock that intruded into Triassic sedimentary rocks. Originally exploited for copper and tin starting in the early twentieth century, with primary production peaks during the World Wars, the deposit is famous for its rich secondary oxidation zone where extensive weathering of primary copper and arsenic ores produced a spectacular diversity of micro-minerals. Among these secondary species is arthurite, a rare hydrated copper iron arsenate phosphate mineral that typically forms as delicate, radiating crusts or small prismatic crystals with a distinct apple-green to dark olive-green color within fracture cavities of the oxidized ore. Although commercial mining operations have ceased and access is restricted due to hazardous underground workings, the locality remains celebrated among mineral collectors worldwide for producing exceptional reference specimens of arthurite and other oxidized copper-arsenic minerals.

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