Kinoite, Gilalite, Hydroxylapophyllite

specimen number:
2354203

location:
Christmas Mine, Gila Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Brilliant blue micro crystals of kinoite scattered quite richly across one side of matrix with light green micro crystalline to massive gilaite. Tiny colorless sparkling crystals of hydroxylapophyllite are present throughout. Classic material for the species and locality.

Located in the Dripping Spring Mountains of Gila County, Arizona, the Christmas Mine is a prominent skarn-related copper deposit discovered in the late nineteenth century and staked on Christmas Day in 1880. The regional geology features Paleozoic limestone and sedimentary strata intruded by Laramide-age granodiorite stocks, creating favorable conditions for high-temperature contact metamorphism and extensive hydrothermal ore deposition. Underground mining operations produced significant copper, silver, and gold over several decades before activity wound down. For mineral collectors and researchers, the locality is world-famous as the type locality or prime source for kinoite, a rare copper silicate mineral that forms striking, vibrant azure-blue crystal coatings and rosettes inside fractured skarn cavities, alongside other unusual secondary copper species.

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