Ettringite

specimen number:
2063410

location:
N'Chwaning Mines, Northern Cape, South Africa

description:
Small but very nice cluster beautiful yellow green lustrous prismatic ettringite crystals, the largest measuring to 0.7 cm in length. Very little attached matrix, this is mostly a loose cluster. In very good condition.

The N'Chwaning Mines, situated in the Kalahari Manganese Field of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, comprise an active underground mining complex operated by Assmang. The deposit was discovered in 1940, and operations were established in phases with the commissioning of N'Chwaning 1 in 1972, N'Chwaning 2 in 1981, and N'Chwaning 3 in 2001, remaining fully active today. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Palaeoproterozoic Hotazel Formation of the Transvaal Supergroup, consisting of sedimentary banded iron formations interbedded with massive manganese ore layers. The complex structures feature intense faulting and post-depositional hydrothermal alteration, which have localized rare mineral assemblages including exceptional rhodochrosite, manganite, and gem-quality sugilite.

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