Barite with Fluorite

specimen number:
2013472

location:
Denton Mine, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:
Pale bluish green slightly translucent and lustrous tabular crystals of barite measuring to 3.0 cm in size over the top of a grouping of purple highly translucent fluorite crystals. Complete all around with no points of attachment, in excellent condition. From the early 1980s. Minor chalcopyrite is present.

The Denton Mine, located in Hardin County, Illinois, was part of the Illinois Kentucky Fluorspar District and operated from 1979 to 1993 during the later stages of mining in the region. The deposit consists of hydrothermal vein mineralization hosted in limestone, where mineral rich fluids deposited fluorite along with associated minerals such as barite, calcite, galena, and sphalerite. Mining was carried out by underground methods that followed these veins through the host rock. The mine is especially well known among collectors for its fine barite and fluorite combination specimens, where cubic fluorite crystals in shades of purple or yellow are often found in association with white to cream colored bladed barite. These minerals formed in open cavities under conditions that allowed for slow and well developed crystal growth, producing attractive and highly valued specimens from one of the last major producing mines in the district.

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