Realgar with Orpiment, Barite

specimen number:
2354044

location:
Quiruvilca Mine, Santiago de Chuco, La Libertad, Peru

description:
Very good example for the species at this locality, an open pocket within this matrix is lined with yellowish botryoidal crystallized orpiment. There are numerous red needlelike crystals of translucent realgar, the prominent one measuring 1.5 cm in length and spanning from one side of the pocket to the other. Small crystals of colorless barite are present. In good condition.

Located in Santiago de Chuco Province, La Libertad, Peru, the Quiruvilca Mine is a famed hydrothermal vein deposit hosted within Miocene volcanic rocks of the Calipuy Formation. The district exhibits clear mineral zoning centered around copper-rich enargite, transitioning outward into lead-zinc-silver zones and outer stibnite-bearing zones. Documented mining began as early as 1789, with major modern commercial underground extraction operating throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries for base metals and silver. Highly prized by mineral collectors worldwide, Quiruvilca has produced outstanding fine specimens of enargite, orpiment, realgar, bournonite, seligmannite, and lustrous pyrite.

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