Description
Well, it's Sunday night & I'm all jacked up on an old iced coffee I found in my car! At least I think that's what it was. Huh. Anyway, this listing isn't about my poor choices, although heaven knows it could be! It's about this amazing specimen composed of well-formed Baryte crystals partially covered in sparkling, iridescent Pyrite crystals. This piece measures a honorable 6.4 cm by 3.8 cm by 3.4 cm, & would likewise make an excellent addition to any UV reactive collection, as the Baryte illuminates a wonderful bright off-white color under long-wave UV light. As for a little history, southwest Poland is home to some of the largest copper & silver ore mines in the world, each housing a variety of metallic minerals. The average depths of these mines are around 1000m, & together the total length of the tunnels reach over 10,000m. The Lubin Mine being one of these. It is known for primarily producing large amounts of important minerals known as chalcocite, bornite & chalcopyrite; each of which are composed of copper. The Lubin Mine was discovered & developed during the 1960's, & to this day is still a copper & silver producing mine. in 2011, during the excavation process, a miner came across a large fault. Following further mining in the roof of this tunnel portion, a cavity was discovered. Using a ladder to climb into this cavity, the miner observed that the pocket continued another 5 meters (16.4 ft) upward, then curved into an irregular 11 meter (36 ft) long tunnel that in some parts were tall enough to stand in. The walls of the cavity were covered in kidney-shaped baryte "balls", each of which was coated in a layer of colorful & sparkling marcasite crystals. The wall's arrangement ranged between convex & concave formations, including some stalactitic structures throughout the cavity. Every inch of this cavity contained these baryte & marcasite mineralization, leaving the cavity with an incredible shimmer. Shortly after discovery, this cavernous pocket was filled with concrete for structural stability purposes. Fortunately, a relatively small amount of these mineral conglomerates were able to be extracted. However, due to the filling of this pocket, the marcasite & baryte collected from this location in it's short period of time is all that is on the market. Amazing 2.5-Inch Baryte With Pyrite - Lubin, Lower Selesia, Poland
