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  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.
  • A dramatic, tower-like mineral specimen featuring iridescent blue-green chalcopyrite forming organic, tendril-like patterns across the surface. Orange-red calcite crystals are scattered throughout, creating striking contrast against the metallic sulfide minerals. The specimen's unusual formation creates a sculptural presence, with layered minerals building up to create a distinctive vertical form.

CHALCOCITE & CHALCOPYRITE WITH CALCITE

Tonglushan Mine, Edong, Daye, Huangshi Prefecture, Hubei Province, China
20.3 x 7 x 10.6 cm
$5,500.00
$5,500.00
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Layered, complex, and all-around dramatic large specimen from a limited one-time find in 2012-13. On top of a sulfide matrix you have intergrown chalcocite, partially replaced by djurleite (both copper sulfide minerals), later coated with a layer of iridescent chalcopyrite, and topped off with accenting colorful and lustrous calcite. When looking at the purple, blue, and green tendril-like growths, they look alien and organic, and there's just nothing else like them in the mineral world. The calcite crystals are large for these combo pieces and give nice contrast with their orange to red color caused by iron oxide inclusions. The back sides are also almost completely covered by a layer of glittering calcites, so this presents great from all angles. This assemblage is simply extraordinary and, may it need repeating, unparalleled in appearance. Given its size and composition, there's very minor damage and it takes a closer look to notice. Specimens from this location are scarce on the market nowadays, and I'd easily rank this as one of the best to have come out of the entire find. Offered at a very affordable price, and comes with a custom lucite base to properly exhibit the piece. 

 

 

More info:

The Tonglushan deposit demonstrates a complex Cu sulfide paragenesis within Proterozoic marble sequences, where early chalcopyrite mineralization was followed by successive phases of secondary copper sulfide formation. Primary chalcopyrite occurs as irregular masses, while later-stage chalcocite and djurleite display characteristic replacement textures and exhibit intimate intergrowths reflecting subtle changes in copper-sulfur ratios during formation. Late-stage calcite, occurring as scalenohedral crystals reaching 5 cm, fills remaining void spaces and frequently encapsulates earlier sulfide phases. The mineral assemblage suggests evolving fluid conditions, where initial hypogene mineralization was modified by later hydrothermal events under varying sulfur fugacity, with temperatures constrained between 80-120°C based on sulfide phase relationships. The preservation of delicate replacement textures and systematic copper enrichment patterns makes Tonglushan a classic example of complex sulfide paragenesis in carbonate-hosted copper deposits.