An excellent
fluorite crystal from Yaogangxian—this one has inky blue cores at the center of
a pair of lustrous cubes. The color
saturation on this one is especially good—the cores are dark but the color
difuses out in a way that makes the specimen a very pleasant blue overall. I bought this one at
the Chenzhou show, being so close to Yaogangxian there was obviously quite a
bit of fluorite from there available, but this one just popped out among all
the others that surrounded it-- the usual mix of pale pastel purples, blues, and those somewhere in between. The given dimensions are edges-- diagonal is 3.7 cm.
China’s Zhejiang
province is home to some of the world’s largest fluorite reserves, most if it
is mined for commercial purposes, and while specimens of nondescript
green/purple fluorite are plentiful, from time to time it does produce some
rather special habits, and I would say that this habit from about 1.5 years ago
definitely qualifies as one of them. This piece consists of two hemispherical
aggregates of yellow fluorite on an earlier generation of nicely contrasting
purple fluorite. There is a flattish
portion on the left side of the left-hand cluster where it seems to ave grown
against something else. Still, I thought
this was a particualrly well balanced miniature, combining exceptional form
with good color—a lot of these didn't have quite this degree of color saturation.
From a recent
find near Gongcheng. These have been
coming out intermittently for about 10 years, with numerous different habits
discovered during that time. My favorites are actually not the big crystals
that came out initially—due to their etching. I prefer the smaller ones with
sharper crystals and good blue color. I
purchased a some of this material shortly after it came down from the
mountain, I picked a few that I particularly liked from one reason or another—
good composition, sharp crystals, good blue color. This one has a good pocket nicely nestled in a curved, mitten-like matrix.
Not Chinese, but
I thought it was a good example of this abundant material. I went to a
warehouse specializing in imported Congolese material, most of the material was
rough malachite for carving, though there were also assorted copper belt
specimens mixed in—I thought this pair of parallel stalactites had a
particularly good form. Matte luster, and you can see the concentric circles on the base-- lest there be any doubts as to its origins. It would look
especially good on a custom base.
A
nice specimen of the recent “matcha” pyromorphite from one of the small mines
in the hills surrounding Gongcheng. Pyromorphite was first discovered in this
area around 1999 and in the years since there have been numerous pockets and
habits discovered at various artisanal diggings. These are probably one of the
more distinctive habits, both for their somewhat different color (I've seen them described as “matcha”, but this would be pretty crappy matcha!) and the crisp hoppering
of the crystals. Priced somewhat cheaper than what I’ve seen elsewhere.
A very sharp
ferberite crystal from the Yaogangxian Mine.
I liked the extra pointiness of this one—they often have more flat terminations.
I also liked that it has that quartz point attached, adding a bit of extra
contrast and refinement to what would otherwise be a more monotonous black
crystal.
A
very unusual fluorite from finds apparently made several years ago, and I can’t
say I’ve see another Chinese fluorite like this. It is a group of very pale
yellow cubes with brownish cores, on a quartz matrix. Normally I would say that a fluorite is special
for its color saturation, but this is oddly the opposite—it is so desaturalted
and pale, while still having phantoms and a bit of yellow (which makes it a bit
more unusual, on the abundance scale of Chinese fluorite colors) that it was
seemingly unique enough to post here.
Yaogangxian
continues to be one of the bright spots in Chinese specimen production, as a
larger ore mine it has largely escaped the regulations that have forced many
smaller specimen producing operations to close. Specimens from this mine have been
fairly abundant since the 90’s, though apatite has always been something of a
rarity from here. These come from a small discovery made in spring of 2023, I
noticed a couple dealers with a few of these at the Chenzhou show, I bought one
piece there, then was lucky to stumble across another back in Guilin. This one has a larger crystal, associated
with a cluster of light purple fluorites, and small poker chip calcites on the
back. There is a lot of Yaogangxian fluorite out there, quite a bit of calcite
and aresnopyrite, but again, apatite remains a rarity.
A
Chinese calcite specimen. There is no shortage of Chinese calcite, walking
through the market there are two things that exist in all shapes, sizes, and
with annoying abundance: random calcites and nondescript green fluorite… But I
still thought this was nice enough to be worth posting. The crystal is damage free and shows a decent
degree of transparency—it was in a flat with a bunch of others, they all had
some defect or another and my eye just went to this one. I went back to the
same shop a couple weeks later and the same thing happened, so I figured it it
grabbed my attention twice it was good enough to buy. There is just something "crisp" about its overall sharpness and appearance.
An unusal
fluorite from Inner Mongolia, this one has a sort of “caterpillar” of blue-purple-green
fluorite (yes, that weird color description is accurate) stretched out across a
quartz matrix-- and complete on both ends. These sort of specimens typically have a fluorite or two perched
on an elongated white quartz crystal (what people annoyingly refer to as "candle quartz), or consist clusters of such quartz/fluorite
formations, but this one stood out for obvious reasons.
An interesting
find from Inner Mongolia, though one that involves a bit of creative cleaning. Most of the quartz specimens from this
discovery were just clusters of small crystals, resembling the Brazilian
amethysts, but without the color. Some
however had larger quartz crystals that have been overgrown by a second generation of
quartz. There was sometimes some space between the main quartz crystal and the
secondary generation, and cleaning/trimming left them with these little
stems.
From a recent
find near Gongcheng. These have been
coming out intermittently for about 10 years, with numerous different habits
discovered during that time. My favorites are actually not the big crystals
that came out initially—due to their etching. I prefer the smaller ones with
sharper crystals and good blue color.
This one has a display face covered with relatively sharp blue hexagonal prisms
From a recent
find near Gongcheng. These have been
coming out intermittently for about 10 years, with numerous different habits
discovered during that time. My favorites are actually not the big crystals
that came out initially—due to their etching. I prefer the smaller ones with
sharper crystals and good blue color. I
purchased a large lot of this material shortly after it came down from the
mountain, I picked a few that I particularly liked from one reason or another—
good composition, sharp crystals, good blue color.
This one is particularly sculptural, the matrix has been trimmed in a way that leaves a couple holes in the matrix and allow light to pass through, I think it takes for a rather beautiful display. As with the others I am posting, this one also has sharp blue crystals (not the more often encountered etched type) with some areas still being primarily pyromorphite-- I find the contrast between the blue and green quite beautiful.
From a recent
find near Gongcheng. These have been
coming out intermittently for about 10 years, with numerous different habits
discovered during that time. My favorites are actually not the big crystals
that came out initially—due to their etching. I prefer the smaller ones with
sharper crystals and good blue color. I
purchased a large lot of this material shortly after it came down from the
mountain, I picked a few that I particularly liked from one reason or another—
good composition, sharp crystals, good blue color.
A nice plumbogumite from a recent
find near Gongcheng. This one has a display face covered in blue pinacoid crystals, many with additional smaller crystals growing near their terminations. There are some sheared crystals on the right side
A very rich specimen of greenockite on matrix, with numerous powdery yellow blooms. This is one of those annoying minerals that appears in nearly every mineral guide book, though which almost never comes up for sale. Maybe it’s just too ugly, but this cadmium sulfide quite well known regardless.
This
specimen comes from a recent discovery near Gongcheng, better known for its
pyromorphite. The scenic green hills in the general vicinity of Yangshuo/
Gongcheng are dotted with small
artisanal mines where the workers search primarily for specimens. The
government keeps closing them— this is the main reason that even the once
abundant pyromorphite has slowed to a trickle. In recent months however at
least one of these sites has had some luck— the “matcha” pyromorphites, the plumbogummites
I am posting, and these greenockites all seem to have come from more or less
the same area around Gongcheng.
For all the negative press about China’s pollution, the government is making a (much needed) push to clean things up—while the air is still quite smoggy thanks to (for the moment) loose factory regulations and coal fired power plants, in the cities about 50% of the cars on the road are EV’s, and probably 95% of the noisy gasoline mopeds that most Chinese rely on for personal transport have been replaced by quiet electric ones. Of course, most of these ultimately rely on coal power plants, and shifting away is proving more slow and costly than can probably be afforded at the moment, despite inroads by renewable sources…. How is this relevant?The downside to this environmental cleanup is that the regulations around mining are also being tightened— and the effect is certainly being felt in the market here. Many of the small mines collectively referred to as “Daoping-Yangshuo” are closed, the same seems to have been the case with the Fujian garnets and some of the once plentiful fluorites from that province, along with the autunites, etc… It seems that the bulk of minerals these days are coming from large ore mines like Yaogangxian or Yindu, with many of the smaller artisanal producers being quickly closed down across the country-- though not before they produce some specimens.
This has been stabilized.
A rich specimen of greenockite on matrix, with numerous powdery yellow blooms. This is one of those annoying minerals that appears in nearly every mineral guide book, though which almost never comes up for sale. Maybe it’s just too ugly, but this cadmium sulfide quite well known regardless.
This
specimen comes from a recent discovery near Gongcheng, better known for its
pyromorphite. The scenic green hills in the general vicinity of Yangshuo/
Gongcheng are dotted with small
artisanal mines where the workers search primarily for specimens. The
government keeps closing them— this is the main reason that even the once
abundant pyromorphite has slowed to a trickle. In recent months however at
least one of these sites has had some luck— the “matcha” pyromorphites, the plumbogummites
I am posting, and these greenockites all seem to have come from more or less
the same area around Gongcheng.
A rich specimen of greenockite on matrix, with numerous powdery yellow blooms. This is one of those annoying minerals that appears in nearly every mineral guide book, though which almost never comes up for sale. Maybe it’s just too ugly, but this cadmium sulfide quite well known regardless.
This specimen comes from a recent discovery near Gongcheng, better known for its pyromorphite. The scenic green hills in the general vicinity of Yangshuo/ Gongcheng are dotted with small artisanal mines where the workers search primarily for specimens. The government keeps closing them— this is the main reason that even the once abundant pyromorphite has slowed to a trickle. In recent months however at least one of these sites has had some luck— the “matcha” pyromorphites, the plumbogummites I am posting, and these greenockites all seem to have come from more or less the same area around Gongcheng.
A rich specimen of greenockite on matrix, with numerous powdery yellow blooms. This is one of those annoying minerals that appears in nearly every mineral guide book, though which almost never comes up for sale. Maybe it’s just too ugly, but this cadmium sulfide quite well known regardless.
This specimen comes from a recent discovery near Gongcheng, better known for its pyromorphite. The scenic green hills in the general vicinity of Yangshuo/ Gongcheng are dotted with small artisanal mines where the workers search primarily for specimens. The government keeps closing them— this is the main reason that even the once abundant pyromorphite has slowed to a trickle. In recent months however at least one of these sites has had some luck— the “matcha” pyromorphites, the plumbogummites I am posting, and these greenockites all seem to have come from more or less the same area around Gongcheng.
A rich specimen of greenockite on matrix, with numerous powdery yellow blooms. This is one of those annoying minerals that appears in nearly every mineral guide book, though which almost never comes up for sale. Maybe it’s just too ugly, but this cadmium sulfide quite well known regardless.
This specimen comes from a recent discovery near Gongcheng, better known for its pyromorphite. The scenic green hills in the general vicinity of Yangshuo/ Gongcheng are dotted with small artisanal mines where the workers search primarily for specimens. The government keeps closing them— this is the main reason that even the once abundant pyromorphite has slowed to a trickle. In recent months however at least one of these sites has had some luck— the “matcha” pyromorphites, the plumbogummites I am posting, and these greenockites all seem to have come from more or less the same area around Gongcheng.