Smithsonite (Cadmium-bearing) (New Find!)

Item Description

From a new find in 2021. We just picked up this piece at the Tucson Show a few weeks ago, and it's a wonderful example of this incredibly rare material from this classic locality. The typical color associated with Smithsonites from the Kelly Mine in New Mexico is an intense blue hue, arguably the most famous blue shade seen in any Smithsonites from around the world. Recently a small discovery was made in what was called the "Sardinia Stope" of the mine (in reference to the famous Masua Mine in Sardinia, Italy) which produced these rarely seen and desirable YELLOW Smithsonites. I've only seen a couple of these over the years, but this new find produced the most pieces that we've seen. The color is due to cadmium content, and I've seen one specimen online that says the color is from hawleyite-greenockite inclusions, but I can't say if that's the case with this piece. This small miniature sized specimen hosts several almost velvety, botryoidal soft yellow (cadmium-bearing) Smithsonite groups on matrix. If you collect Smithsonite, minerals of New Mexico or cool secondary ore minerals, don't miss out on this beautiful and exciting newly discovered piece for your collection.