Rhodochrosite

specimen number:
1713820

location:
Moanda Mine, Leboumbi-Leyou, Haut-Ogooue, Gabon

description:
Deep red sparkling scalenohedral crystals of translucent rhodochrosite richly scattered across the front of matrix. Neat locality example for the species, this is in good condition.

The Moanda Mine, situated in the Haut-Ogooue Province of Gabon, is one of the largest and most significant high-grade manganese mining operations in the world, with deposits discovered in the late 1930s and commercial production ramping up during the 1950s. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Paleoproterozoic Francevillian Basin, a roughly two-billion-year-old sedimentary sequence where extensive bedded manganese ores formed through shallow marine precipitation and subsequent diagenetic processes. Mineralogically, while the massive industrial output consists primarily of manganese oxides and hydroxides, the mine gained secondary fame among advanced mineral collectors for producing rare and exceptional specimens of rhodochrosite—a vibrant pink to deep cherry-red manganese mineral—often occurring as sharp crystal crusts and scalenohedrons associated with black manganite matrix.

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