Calcite with Quartz

specimen number:
8911008

location:
Elmwood complex, Smith Co., Tennessee, USA

description:
A floater brecciated cluster of small colorless crystallized quartz, this hosting small amber colored crystals of calcite to 0.4 cm in size. In good condition with very minimal micro-cleaving present.

The Elmwood complex, comprising primarily of the Elmwood, Gordonsville, and Cumberland Mines, in Smith County, Tennessee, is situated within Paleozoic carbonate rock formations where mineralizing hydrothermal brines circulated through ancient, open solution cavities, faults, and breccia zones. Originally developed for industrial underground mining starting in the 1970s, the facility gained global renown among mineral collectors because miners recovered world-class crystal specimens from vugs and cavities intersected during operations. While the complex has experienced intermittent commercial closures and changes in corporate ownership over the decades, it remains a legendary locality celebrated for producing some of the finest aesthetic mineral crystals ever discovered.

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