Dolomite (cobalt-bearing) (excellent large crystal for the locality)

Item Description

The famous Mashamba West Mine in the Kolwezi District of DR Congo is one of the most famous and prolific localities in the entire country. This impressive copper/cobalt producer has yielded a slew of fine quality, colorful and showy mineral specimens over the last few decades. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the gorgeous pink cobalt-bearing Calcites from this mine, but another carbonate - Dolomite - is also found in superb rich pink colored examples. This might be the single largest individual crystal of cobalt-bearing Dolomite that we've ever had to offer from this locality. The Dolomite crystals from this locality are typically much smaller, often forming crystal aggregates or clusters, but you just don't see solitary, euhedral crystals of this size from Mashamba West. This is a wonderful piece of these beautiful specimens featuring a large, sharp, single rhombic crystal with well-formed faces and very minor attached matrix. On the back of the specimen, you can see a bit of light blue Chrysocolla, along with minor green Malachite, and there is a thin layer of almost steel-blue colored botryoidal Plancheite for a nice touch. The Dolomite crystal is complete nearly all the way around, and there isn't any major damage, but really just some areas of interrupted growth where it was attached to the pocket wall. If you collect minerals of Africa / DR Congo, worldwide carbonates, or if you're just a fan of fine quality crystallized examples of well-known species, don't pass this one up because it's a very impressive piece for what it is. Priced in the inventory at $3,000.