Bournonite

Item Description

Over the last 10 years or so, we've seen many great Bournonites from Machacamarca, showing a wide range of habits. One particular specimen from Brian Kosnar was so fine that it graced the cover of the Mineralogical Record a few years ago. There was a find of this relatively rare copper sulfosalt in 2009 at Machacamarca. This piece hosts several relatively sharp, silvery-grey color, thick, tabular intergrown crystals which are coated by another grey metallic sulfide/sulfosalt (possibly Bornite, Tetrahedrite, Andorite?). This is an unusual specimen for the locality, one of the few like it that we've seen. There was only one pocket from this mine that produced these larger tabular Bournonite crystals with the secondary coating, so don't miss out. From what I have been told, this mine is not producing these specimens at the moment, and the last time the Bournonites stopped coming out, it took three years for the miners to find more.