Which Yaogangxian Mine specimen is your Favourite?

I have long been fascinated by Yaogangxian Mine specimens from Hunan Province, China.
Please post your favourite specimens from this famous mine & show the great variety of minerals that have been found there.

To kick this topic off i am posting this favourite specimen, a wonderful small combination piece.
Jamesonite on Quartz, capped by Fluorite, some of the Jamesonite has formed over the Quartz & is also as inclusions in the Fluorite cubes,
there are also several very small Chalcopyrite crystals on the specimens & possibly a Stannite crystal. .
Size is 7cm x 8, Fluorites average 1.5cm

Another Yaogangxian piece.
Fluorite on Quartz, size 10 x 10cm, Fluorite cubes 30mm, longest Quartz crystal 8cm

Ferberite, Fluorite, Quartz, and Muscovite. Yaogangxian Mine. 6.7 x 6 cm.



Fluorite cluster on Quartz. 7.1 x 2.5 cm.



Fluorite on Quartz with Cookeite. 2.5 x 4.2 cm.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2012 06:18AM by AM Mizunaka.

The Yaogangxian Mine has certainly produced a bonanza of wonderful specimens for the collector, and it has become one of my favorite China localities. The article in the Nov./Dec. Mineralogical Record did a great job of illustrating the variety of minerals produced there as well as some fabulous combinations. Here are a couple of my personal favorites.

An incredible deposit, particularly for the fluorites - one of my favorites, with quartz, 10x6x5 cm overall size.

Fluorite / Wolframite / Pyrite size: 9,5 cm x 5 cm x 4,7 cm
Yaogangxian Mine, Hunan Province, China

[www.mindat.org]

Best regards,
Mario Pauwels



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2012 03:51PM by Mario Pauwels.

Ferberite with Quartz & Muscovite.
size 10cm tall.

Ferberite, Fluorite, and Muscovite, minor Quartz on reverse, fluorite over 3 cm in largest dimension.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2012 03:19AM by Dennis Tryon.

Here is one of my favorites. 11 x 9 x 6 cm . Muliti-stepped fluorite on 2 sharp quartz crystals with a scattering of scheelite.

It is so hard to choose one as even the fluorites can vary so much with interesting features. Today I have chosen a fluorite with a few scheelite hitchhikers. I have 4 pics so this will be in 2 posts.

Thumbnail - Main cube is approx 1 cm

3 views

side view


from top down, the brown spots are the scheelites growing on the bottom side


bottom view of scheelites

This Ferberite, Fluorite with Muscovite is an absolutely awesome specimen,
i picked this one up in China for $60, can you believe that?
crystallized on all sides, it measures 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.5cm.

My favorite is this combination of Quartz crystals on the right side with a blue fluorite on the left, all on a matrix of arsenopyrite crystals. The Fluorite cluster is 9.5cm wide, the whole specimen is 18cm wide.

Mike your Fluorite/Quartz specimen is extremely beautiful, thank you for sharing it.

My favorite is this unusual combo (overall 14.0 x 10.0 x 3.0 cm): A nearly 5 cm across, cluster of lustrous and highly vertically striated bournonite crystals (it might be a complex single crystal) set upright among colorless Topaz crystals, associated with purple Fluorite, Arsenopyrite and a larger Quartz crystal. Specimen of Topaz are uncommon from Yaogangxian, and the combination with Bournonite is likely unique.

Although not a perfect specimen, it demonstrates why this site is known as the Underground Museum.
A 16cm X 7 cm specimen perdominantly covered with drusy quartz but showing pleasing crystals of chalcopyrite, bournonite, fluorite with included jamesonite and two smoky quartz points.

Here is my favourite from this mine. Some wondreful jamesonite inclusions inside fluorite. Field of view is around 5 mm. Additional child photos (full view and closeups) are available for this specimen.

Double terminated quartz included with helvite with cubes of fluorite and tiny dolomite crystals. 6.5 x 4 cm.

© A&M

© A&M