Crabulazzu Mine (Crabulassu Mine; Crabulatzu Mine; Crabulazzu-Gragonti Mine), Arbus, South Sardinia Province, Sardinia, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Crabulazzu Mine (Crabulassu Mine; Crabulatzu Mine; Crabulazzu-Gragonti Mine)	Mine
Arbus	Commune
South Sardinia Province	Province
Sardinia	Autonomous Region
Italy	- not defined -

In the Crabulazzu (Crabulassu)-Gragonti (Graconti) mining area, located WSW of Arbus, some prospect workings were driven during the 18th century. A prospecting permit named "Crabulassu" (after Monte Crabulassu) was granted in 1849 to the company A. & L. Canopia of Cagliari. The mine was officially discovered in 1867 and the mining concession, named "Crabulazzu", was conferred to the company "Società anonima delle miniere di Ingurtosu e Gennamari" in 1872, which already exploited the westernmost part of the Sant'Antonio vein at Gennamari. Crabulazzu mine exploited the part of the Sant'Antonio vein embedded in granite and 700 m of the same vein embedded in schists; the remaining westernmost part of the vein, embedded in schists, was mined in the Gennamari concession. At Crabulazzu a series of trenches, a 250 m deep shaft (the Edoardo shaft on the Bidderdi plateau, near the border with the Gennamari concession), and horizontal underground workings developed on 8 levels (Mitza superiore and inferiore, Polveriera, Sant'Antonio, Santa Barbara, Dorotea, San Felice, and Giordano) were excavated. Later, the mining concession, renamed "Crabulatzu", was taken over by the company Società Mineraria e Metallurgica Pertusola in 1933 and by the company Società Monteponi e Montevecchio S.p.A. in 1965, which definitively renounced its mining rights in 1973.

Besides the main workings at Crabulazzu, exploration works (Medau Cossiu and Gragonti workings) were conducted at Gragonti (Graconti), to the WNW of Crabulazzu, in the period 1905-1924 and in the first half of the 1950s.

Distinctive characteristic of the Sant'Antonio vein at Crabulazzu was the remarkable enrichment in cerussite in its upper parts embedded in granite. Here, cerussite, that was exploited as a lead ore, has been described as bundles of thin crystals (Jervis, 1881). The presence of small, yellow bipyramidal crystals of wulfenite in association with pyromorphite at the Dorotea adit has been reported by Bornemann (1898). Greyish, green, and yellow anglesite crystals have also been found (Jervis, 1881; Bornemann, 1898; Millosevich, 1903; Stara et al., 1996). Pyromorphite is surely the most famous mineral from the oxidized zone of this mining area, that yielded some of the best Sardinian pyromorphites (Bornemann, 1898; Hintze & Linck, 1933; Billows, 1941; Stara et al, 1996). Crystals are generally green, but colourless, white, yellow, and brown crystals are also known. According to Puxeddu & Marini (1923), pyromorphites from this area are slightly radioactive. Outstanding specimens of pyromorphite, sometimes in association with wulfenite and cerussite, have been found also in recent times. Crystals having the composition of mimetite are known too (Binotto et al., 1987 and 1988; Stara et al., 1996).

Dark brown plumbojarosite crystals, associated with pyromorphite in quartz and goethite cavities, has been found at Gragonti (Stara et al., 1996).

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References