An Important Fluorite on Pyrite

An Important Fluorite on Pyrite

Huanzala Mine, Huanuco Department, Peru

Overall size 14.0 x 6.0 x 5.0 cm. An exquisite combination of the coveted pink fluorite octahedral growth on pyrite. Here, the fluorite displays complex modifications to the octahedra, high transparency and attractive central pale green zoning as an overgrowth to the brightly lustrous golden pyrite cubes on matrix. With previous gallery labels '8201' and '93DF'. With custom lucite base.

Certainly one of the most popular collectible minerals, calcium fluoride (CaF2) occurs in numerous important deposits spanning the globe. The nearly infinite array of available colors, often occurring in multi-color zoned “phantom” growth, have long delighted mineral collectors and lapidaries alike. Valuable as a smelting agent and for use in certain types of glass and optics, it has been mined in great quantities for industrial purposes. Vividly colored specimens with aesthetic crystal growth are best known from classic North American deposits in Illinois and Tennessee, European localities in Spain and England, and more recently from several exciting Chinese discoveries.