Santaclaraite

specimen number:
2354085

location:
Mt. Hamilton, Santa Clara Co., California, USA

description:
Good rich example for this mineral, brownish masses quite rich throughout matrix. The specimen comes with several previous labels as shown at the end of the video.

Located in the Diablo Range of Santa Clara County, California, the Mount Hamilton area features complex Franciscan Complex geology consisting of metamorphosed oceanic crust, marine cherts, and low-grade metamorphic rocks. The region was historically prospected and mined for mercury, manganese, and copper, with small-scale manganese deposits developed in chert beds during the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1984, researchers formally described santaclaraite, a rare silicate mineral named after Santa Clara County, where it occurs as reddish-orange to pink fiber-like veins, micro-prismatic crystals, and irregular masses embedded in quartz and manganese-stained cherts. Mineral collectors and micro-mount enthusiasts value specimens from Mount Hamilton localities for their unique geological origin and extreme mineralogical rarity.

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