Callaghanite

specimen number:
2354199

location:
Basic Refractories Mine, Gabbs, Nye Co., Nevada, USA

description:
Rich blue masses and micro crystalline callaghanite across this matrix. Good example for the species.

Located in the Luning Embayment of Nye County, Nevada, the Basic Refractories Mine near Gabbs operates within a complex geological setting where Triassic dolomite and limestone were contact-metamorphosed and hydrothermal altered by igneous intrusions, creating massive deposits of magnesite and brucite. Discovered in the late 1920s and extensively developed during World War II to produce magnesium for wartime aircraft production, the open-pit operation became famous among mineralogists in the mid-1950s when it was designated as the type locality for callaghanite. Named after geologist Eugene Callaghan, this rare secondary hydrous copper magnesium carbonate mineral formed in low-temperature hydrothermal fractures where copper solutions interacted with serpentinized magnesite-bearing rock. Highly prized by specimen collectors for its intense azure to azure-blue bladed crystals and rosette aggregates, callaghanite remains a sought-after classic mineral species endemic to small shear zones within the Gabbs mining district.

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