Galena with Quartz

specimen number:
2341130

location:
Bou Nahas Mine, Oumjrane, Alnif Cercle, Tinghir, Draa-Tafilalet, Morocco

description:
Dark lustrous crystals of galena measuring to 2.5 cm in size on a crystallized quartz matrix. The quartz appears to be forming some kind of cast after a previous tabular mineral, this most likely barite. Interesting and in good condition.

Copper exploitation at the Bou Nahas Mine in the Oumjrane district of Morocco dates back historically to the Middle Ages or earlier, with formal modern operations initiated during the French colonial period before being abandoned in the mid-1970s, and later successfully re-opened around late 2011. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the eastern Anti-Atlas region, where steeply dipping polymetallic hydrothermal veins cut across Upper Ordovician detrital sedimentary rock units such as sandstones, quartzites, shales, and marls. These primary vein systems are associated with post-Variscan hydrothermal activity and local faulting, while subsequent supergene alteration and oxidation processes between the Jurassic and Neogene periods produced secondary mineralization zones rich in carbonates and native metals.

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