Ludlockite (incredibly rare locality specimen)

Item Description

This is something that I'm sure most fans of rare minerals or Mexican minerals don't have in their collections. This piece is an exceptionally hard to find specimen of the notably rare lead iron arsenite species, Ludlockite from the famed Ojuela Mine in Mexico. These specimens were actually mined in the 1980s (this piece came to us via Bill Panczner through a dealer), and were misidentified as Karibibite and/or Arsenbrackebuschite (the species are quite similar visually), but Peter Megaw reports that recent analysis by Bob Downs at the University of Arizona has confirmed they are in fact Ludlockite. The species is best known from the type locality, the Tsumeb Mine in Namibia, where the finest examples were found in the 1960s-1970s, but there are very few examples to be seen outside of Tsumeb. Ludlockite is one of the great treasures from Tsumeb, because all of the specimens were discovered within a single boulder at the mine, and no more pieces of consequence were found. When the pieces from the Ojuela Mine were confirmed as Ludlockite, it suddenly created a tremendous opportunity for species collectors to get their hands on something that is not only beautiful, but highly desirable. This piece features brilliant coppery-orange colored, thin, prismatic / fibrous crystals of Ludlockite sitting on oxidized matrix. The largest group of Ludlockite crystals measures about 5 mm across. If you've always wanted a piece of this species for your collection, and could never find a specimen from Tsumeb on the market, don't miss out on the chance to get this one now, as there almost certainly will not be more to come from this locality. For reference, Ludlockite is one of the few minerals to be named after two different people, i.e., mineral dealers Frederick (Rick) Ludlow Smith and Charles (Charlie) Locke Key: Ludlow + Locke = Ludlockite.