Fluorite with Chalcopyrite

specimen number:
2062981

location:
Denton Mine, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:
An attractive large cluster of dark purple color zoned lustrous and partly gemmy cubic fluorite crystals, the largest measuring to 2.5 cm on edge. This is in very good condition. Small golden tetrahedral crystals of chalcopyrite to 0.3 cm in size are scattered throughout nicely. Mined in 1987. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark. Quite attractive when backlit.

The Denton Mine, located in the Harris Creek subdistrict of Hardin County, Illinois, was put into operation in 1981 as one of the later major underground sources for the region's fluorite industry, eventually closing alongside neighboring operations in the mid-1990s. Geologically, the mine operated within the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, extracting bedding-replacement orebodies rich in fluorite, sphalerite, and barite that formed primarily in Mississippian-age carbonate strata, specifically along the Rosiclare and Sub-Rosiclare stratigraphic levels.

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