A typical specimen from the Calicata Dolores that, apparently, does not present anything out of the ordinary, but which contains a surprise: through careful analysis, the presence in the piece of Lavendulan and Lemanskiite, two very closely related species, has been determined.
This is an association that is little or not at all evident a visu, in which only analytical study allows both species to be distinguished, giving the piece additional mineralogical interest both for the locality and for the simultaneous presence of both species in the same specimen, something that, to our knowledge, is little or very little common.
The Calicata Dolores is a small prospect located in the Pastrana area, within the well-known Mazarrón–Águilas mining district, renowned for its secondary copper mineralizations and great diversity of species. The Calicata Dolores has provided characteristic specimens of this type of paragenesis, sometimes with associations that are not evident to the naked eye.
The mineralization develops in a supergene alteration environment of primary copper and iron sulfides, in volcanic and sedimentary materials associated with the Mazarrón mining complex. Oxidation processes have given rise to a rich paragenesis of copper arsenates and phosphates, among them species such as Lavendulan and Lemanskiite and many other species, some of them type localities.
Dolores outcrop, Pastrana, Mazarrón / Águilas, Comarca Alto Guadalentín, Region of Murcia (Murcia) Spain
Specimen size: 8 × 6.2 × 3,4 cm = 3.15” × 2.44” × 1.18”
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