Vedretta della Miniera, Zebrù Valley, Valfurva, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italy

An old Fe mine located at 2700 asl.

Minerals can be found in three different kind of occurrences:

a) Silicate marbles: azurite, chalcopyrite, clinochlore, clintonite, diopside, forsterite, grossular, lizardite, ludwigite, magnetite, malachite, molybdenite, monticellite, spinel, pyrrhotite and vesuvianite.

b) Calcephires (rocks composed by Ca-silicates and carbonates linked to the metamorphic effects of an intrusion) and skarns. In calcephires there are fissures with zeolites, formed by circulation of hydrothermal fluids (low temperature: < 200° C). Minerals present in this type of occurrence are: "apatite" (carbonate-hydroxylapatite according to the authors), augite var. fassaite, aurichalcite, calcite, chalcopyrite, clintonite, cordierite, diopside, epidote, ferro-actinolite, hedenbergite, lizardite, magnetite, montmorillonite, pyrite, "scapolite" (marialite-meionite series), sphalerite, spinel, titanite, vesuvianite. In zeolites' paragenesis minerals present are: aragonite, calcite, chabazite-Ca, diopside, gismondite, laumontite, prehnite, pumpellyite-(Fe2+), scolecite and thaumasite.

c) Magnetite lenses: arsenopyrite, aurichalcite, bornite, chalcopyrite, clinochlore, cubanite, galena, goethite, graphite, hematite, lepidocrocite, ludwigite, magnetite, malachite, marcasite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and valleriite.

Reference:
Bedognè, F., Montrasio, A., Sciesa, E. (2006). I minerali della medio-alta Valtellina, delle Orobie valtellinesi e della val Poschiavo. Aggiornamenti sulle altre località della provincia di Sondrio. Tip. Bettini, Sondrio, 255 pp.