Corvusite with Pascoite

specimen number:
2063574

location:
Nil Mine, Montrose Co., Colorado, USA

description:
A set of two specimens, the showing bluish gray masses of corvusite with orange bands of Pascoite. Size provided for the larger example.

Located in the Uravan Mineral Belt of Montrose County, Colorado, the Nil Mine is a classic Colorado Plateau uranium and vanadium deposit hosted within the fluvial sandstones of the Jurassic Morrison Formation. Mined heavily during the mid-twentieth century vanadium and atomic energy booms, the deposit formed as ancient metal-bearing groundwater interacted with buried organic matter in fossil river beds, precipitating dark unoxidized ores. Subsequent supergene weathering and hydration of these ore bodies created rich secondary mineral assemblages in the mine fractures and sandstone pores. The Nil Mine is particularly celebrated among collectors for producing fine specimens of dark blue-black to brownish corvusite, which forms massive encrustations and micro-crystalline coatings, alongside vibrant orange-yellow pascoite, which occurs as bright efflorescent crusts and shiny crystalline aggregates on matrix.

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