Diopside

specimen number:
9302417

location:
Vigelsbo Mines, Osthammar, Uppsala Co., Sweden

description:
A superb cabinet sized example for the species with several large semi lustrous satiny opaque green sharp blocky terminated crystals of diopside in a cluster with cleavages of rhombohedral colorless calcite. This is in excellent condition all around.

Located in Osthammar Municipality within Uppsala County, Sweden, the historic Vigelsbo mining field represents the third largest historical iron ore producer in the region after Dannemora and Ramhall. Geologically, the deposit consists of iron-rich magnetite mineralization embedded within skarn metamorphic host rocks alongside calc-silicate minerals such as andradite garnet and epidote. Exploited primarily through two principal workings, Vigelsbo and Stockenstrom, along with several smaller shafts, the area has a long history of industrial extraction for iron ore. Today, the abandoned mine site is noted by mineral collectors for producing well-crystallized specimens of green epidote, dark red-brown andradite garnet, actinolite, diopside and scheelite set against skarn matrix.

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