Calcita
Calcita is a mineral with formula CaCO₃, in the Carbonatos group. This specimen comes from Xianghualing Mine, Xianghualing Sn-polymetallic ore field / Linwu Co., Chenzhou, Hunan, China.
Description
Compact group of whitish nail-head calcite rhombohedra set on a vitreous fluorite base with flat faces and clean terminations. Both species are fluorescent, and the calcite also shows weak phosphorescence.
About Calcita
Calcite, a polymorph of calcium carbonate, crystallises in the trigonal system and exhibits fluorescence due to Mn²⁺ activators. A representative specimen of a style not yet seen again in more than twenty years, since before 2000.
About the locality
Xianghualing is a classic district in southern China that has produced magnificent specimens of calcite, fluorite and sulphides. The workings that yielded specimens like this one closed decades ago, but the underground deposits continue to attract interest. In 2026, six people set up an illegal mining operation inside the old tunnels, where they even lived while illegally extracting no less than 12 tonnes of ore. They ended up in prison.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0278
- Composition
- CaCO₃
- Name
- Calcita
- Group
- Carbonatos
- Category
- Lucimera
- Matrix
- Fluorita
- Mine
- Xianghualing Mine
- District / Municipality
- Xianghualing Sn-polymetallic ore field / Linwu Co.
- Province
- Chenzhou
- Region
- Hunan
- Country
- China
- Size (cm)
- 9 x 8 x 6
- Weight
- 357.5 g
- Ex-collection
- Sergio Petretich
- Etymology
- From the Latin "calx", lime, the etymological root common to calcite, limestone and calcium.
- Quality
- Muy buena
- Value trend
- Estable
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