The Core of Expo Mineral Show (1)

SV180NNG

Druse of complex Sphalerite crystals with curvatures and smooth tetrahedron forms. The crystals, between transparent and translucent, have a dense, deep and uniform caramel color, and are in matrix with white Dolomite crystals and small partially dissolved Calcite crystals. From a classic Spanish mine for Sphalerite, located in a spectacular setting next to Los Picos de Europa National Park, inaccessible for many years already after the galleries were flooded.

Áliva Mine (Las Mánforas Mine), Áliva mining area, Camaleño, Comarca Liébana, Cantabria Spain (±1990)

Specimen size: 7.8 x 4 x 2.8 cm

Main crystal size: 2 x 1.6 cm

SV190NBF

Polycrystalline growth of complex Sphalerite crystals with curvatures and with smooth tetrahedron faces. They are translucent, with very bright luster and an intense honey color and with the uncommon peculiarity of being accompanied by a scalenohedral Calcite crystal and rhombohedral crystals of snow-white Dolomite.
A classic of Cantabrian mining from Las Mánforas, located in a spectacular setting next to the Picos de Europa National Park.

Áliva Mine (Las Mánforas Mine), Áliva mining area, Camaleño, Comarca Liébana, Cantabria Spain (±1991)

Specimen size: 4.8 x 3.7 x 2.6 cm

Main crystal size: 4.4 x 2.1 cm

SV440NVX

Interesting specimen formed by Galena crystals with the predominant forms of the cube and partially covered by Cerussite crystals as an alteration product, accompanied by a rich group of small crystals of Dolomite rich in iron with a very deep brown color. Finally, decorated with small, very sharp Quartz crystals on the Dolomite. Very different from what has been known previously from this mine.

Mina Rómulo, Collado La Mina, Llano del Beal, Cartagena, Comarca Campo de Cartagena, Region of Murcia (Murcia) Spain

Specimen size: 11.8 x 8.8 x 5.2 cm

Main crystal size: 4.1 x 3.1 cm

Former collection of Miguel David Martínez

SV220NBX

Group of Pyrrhotite crystals with hexagonal outlines, fully pseudomorphed by small, but very bright, Pyrite crystals covering the old crystals of Pyrrhotite, and with small carbonate crystals scattered on top of the Pyrite crystals. This association of sulfides and carbonates is a classic of this old mine in the La Union mining district.

Tomasa Mine, La Fortuna, Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La Unión, La Unión, Comarca Campo de Cartagena, Region of Murcia (Murcia) Spain

Specimen size: 8.4 x 6.5 x 4.4 cm

Main crystal size: 3 x 1.9 cm

SV120RCX

Very sharp bisphenoidal crystals of Chalcopyrite with a pseudotetrahedral habit, twinned and with the good color and luster characteristic of the species. They appear with Dolomite crystals embedded in a matrix of Calcite. This type of specimen was unknown at the locality until this find.

Salomón Cut, bench 290, Rio Tinto Mines, Minas de Riotinto, Comarca Cuenca Minera, Huelva, Andalusia Spain

Specimen size: 8.9 x 5 x 4.7 cm

Main crystal size: 0.5 x 0.4 cm

SV90RCX

Intergrowth formed by a group of three main Galena crystals with visible and very smooth cube faces, along with figures of the cube-octahedron with graphic texture. Very clean and with a satiny metallic luster characteristic for the species. This specimen comes from a classic deposit of Spanish mineralogy, the La Cruz mine group in Jaén, Andalusia, from which not too many specimens are seen anymore on the mineralogical circuit.

La Cruz mining group, La Cruz vein, Linares, Comarca Sierra Morena, Jaén, Andalusia Spain

Specimen size: 6.3 x 5 x 2.2 cm

Main crystal size: 2.7 x 2.1 cm

SV540NBX

Large group of globular aggregates of Fluorite crystals, with the particularity that they are formed by octahedrons if we observe them with a loupe. Apple-green and lustrous, on a porphyritic rock matrix, it comes from a significant discovery made in 2014 very close to the urban center of Barcelona, specifically in the neighboring community of Santa Coloma de Gramenet. This piece, due to its size and color, is among the best of that find.

Can Franquesa, Castellar Hill (Marina Range), Singuerlín, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Comarca Barcelonès, Barcelona, Catalonia / Catalunya Spain (2014)

Specimen size: 22.5 x 16.4 x 3.9 cm

Main crystal size: 0.7 x 0.6 cm

SV560MXA

Group of octahedral Fluorite crystals completely covered by microcrystals of very lustrous Quartz that perfectly preserves the morphology of the Fluorite crystals. They are arranged in a rock matrix fully covered by an earlier generation of Quartz crystals.

Ruijin, Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province China (09/2022)

Specimen size: 11.3 x 7.6 x 5.1 cm

Main crystal size: 2.6 x 2.6 cm

SV230MLH

Group of octahedral Fluorite crystals completely covered by microcrystals of very lustrous Quartz that perfectly preserves the morphology of the Fluorite crystals. They are arranged on a rock matrix fully carpeted by an earlier generation of Quartz crystals. This material was unknown until now from this locality.

Ruijin, Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province China (09/2022)

Specimen size: 10.1 x 8 x 5.4 cm

Main crystal size: 2 x 1.9 cm

SV280MFF

Group of octahedral Fluorite crystals completely coated by very lustrous Quartz microcrystals that perfectly preserve the morphology of the Fluorite crystals. One of the crystals preserves part of the original greenish Fluorite, as can be seen on the left side of the specimen. They are arranged in a matrix of rock completely coated by an earlier generation of Quartz crystals. This material was unknown until now at this locality.

Ruijin, Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province China (09/2022)

Specimen size: 9.3 x 5.4 x 4.4 cm

Main crystal size: 2.6 x 2.4 cm

SV420MMB

Pair of very sharp octahedral Fluorite crystals completely covered by very lustrous Quartz microcrystals that perfectly preserve the Fluorite crystal morphology. They are arranged in a matrix of rock totally covered by an earlier generation of Quartz crystals, some of them with dark inclusions of Hematite. This material was unknown until now at this locality.

Ruijin, Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province China (09/2022)

Specimen size: 4.9 x 4.1 x 3.5 cm

Main crystal size: 2.1 x 2 cm