Sphalerite with Quartz, Calcite

specimen number:
2341072

location:
Bouismas Mine, Tansifte Caidat, Agdz Cercle, Zagora, Draa-Tafilalet, Morocco

description:
Beautiful gemmy honey colored crystals of sphalerite lustrous in measuring to 1.0 cm in size across the top of this matrix with lustrous crystalline quartz and scalenohedral colorless calcite crystals to 1.5 cm. There are at least eight good sphalerite crystals present. This is the variety of the species sometimes called cleophane. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Jan Erik Larsen.

The Bouismas Mine, situated within the renowned Bou Azzer mining district of the Central Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco, is an underground operation with a history tied to the region's mid-twentieth century and later industrial and artisanal extraction of cobalt, nickel, and associated rare elements. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within complex Precambrian serpentinites and fault-fill vein systems associated with the major Pan-African suture zone, where hydrothermal activity driven by multi-phase tectonic events deposited an array of metallic ores.

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