Jamesonita
Jamesonita is a mineral with formula Pb₄FeSb₆S₁₄, in the Sulfosales group. This specimen comes from Mina Noche Buena, Mineral de Noche Buena, Melchor Ocampo, Zacatecas, México.
Description
A 360º floater specimen consisting entirely of tiny, extremely fine grey jamesonite needles, very soft to the touch.
History of this specimen
Theo and Gigi Döring were Bavarian teachers, active 1960–1985.
About Jamesonita
It looks like a mass of metallic hair, but each "hair" is an individual crystal. Jamesonite's crystal structure is built from atomic chains and rods that favor extreme growth in one direction. New atoms arriving with the hydrothermal fluid attach far more easily along its length than its width, making the crystals appear almost one-dimensional, even though they are not. That is why each of these metallic "hairs" is a complete crystal. Depending on formation conditions, jamesonite can grow as relatively thick, radial needles—forming the "hedgehog" clusters typical of some Quiruvilca specimens—or take that growth to the extreme, producing thousands of intertwined capillaries that form true metallic felt, as seen in this Noche Buena piece.
About the locality
Mined since at least 1538, an entire town grew up around it—and when it closed, it practically took the town with it. It is a ghost town now. Some locals remain convinced that there is still ore left underground, but the mine won't reopen. Rosalinda de la Paz, a former company secretary, summed it up in 2016: "They won't let go of it, loan it out, or lease it. They won't let anyone work it."
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0700
- Composition
- Pb₄FeSb₆S₁₄
- Name
- Jamesonita
- Group
- Sulfosales
- Category
- Meritum Persé
- Mine
- Mina Noche Buena
- District / Municipality
- Mineral de Noche Buena
- Province
- Melchor Ocampo
- Region
- Zacatecas
- Country
- México
- Size (cm)
- 6.5 × 4 × 3.5
- Weight
- 34.3 g
- Ex-collection
- Theo und Gigi Döring > Christian Rewitzer
- Etymology
- Pays tribute to Robert Jameson, an influential and stubborn Scottish mineralogist and professor at the University of Edinburgh. He taught Charles Darwin, though with disastrous results: Darwin confessed in his autobiography that the sheer boredom of his lectures made him hate geology for years. Jameson, a staunch defender of "Neptunism," claimed that water produced all of Earth's rocks and flatly rejected volcanic theories.
- Quality
- Notable
- Value trend
- Estable
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