Very well defined crystals of Cinnabar that have excellent color and luster. They are on a matrix of quartzite with fine granular Cinnabar and with small tabular crystals of Baryte and small drops of interstitial Mercury. An excellent Spanish classic.
The San Teodoro shaft, excavated in 1757 and currently closed, forms part of the historical workings of the large mining complex of the Almadén Mine, located in the locality and municipality of Almadén, within the Valle de Alcudia District. This area is one of the oldest and most emblematic mining districts in the world, with more than 2,000 years of documented activity.
The deposit is located in a Paleozoic strip of the Ossa-Morena Zone, where volcanic and sedimentary rocks of Silurian–Devonian age outcrop. The mineralization is dominated by Cinnabar, present in veins, impregnations and massive bodies associated with calc-alkaline subvolcanic volcanism and with low- to moderate-temperature hydrothermal processes. It is a world classic for the abundance and quality of its Cinnabar and for its singular stratabound deposits.
San Teodoro shaft, Almadén Mine, Almadén, Comarca Valle de Alcudia, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha Spain
Specimen size: 9 × 8.3 × 5.1 cm = 3.54” × 3.27” × 2.01”
Main crystal size: 0.5 × 0.4 cm = 0.20” × 0.16”
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