Senarmontite

specimen number:
2354112

location:
Djebel Hammimat Mine, Ain Babouche, Oum el Bouaghi, Algeria

description:
An excellent old-time example with sharp crystals of colorless senarmontite to 0.6 cm in size richly scattered across the top of this matrix. Very minimal cleaving present, this still in good condition. The specimen comes with an old antique handwritten label, as well as a label from noted California dealer collector A. L. McGuinness.

Located in the Oum el Bouaghi Province of northeastern Algeria, the Djebel Hammimat Mine sits within a complex geological terrain characterized by antimony-bearing hydrothermal deposits hosted in sedimentary rocks. Commercial mining operations began in the mid-nineteenth century following the discovery of massive antimony ore veins, quickly establishing Djebel Hammimat as Algeria's primary historic source of the metal. The site achieved international renown in 1851 as the type locality for senarmontite, a rare secondary antimony oxide mineral formed by the oxidation of primary stibnite deposits. Collectors highly value specimens from this location, as Djebel Hammimat produced some of the world's finest sharp, octahedral crystals of gray to colorlessly translucent senarmontite, making it a celebrated classic locality among mineralogists and museum curators worldwide.

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