Smithsonite (Cadmium-bearing) (recent find)

Item Description

The Kelly Mine in New Mexico is one of the most well-known localities for Smithsonite in the world. It was the source of some of the finest blue Smithsonite specimens ever found. Recently (2021) our friends were able to collect these new and exciting speicmens of a rarely seen yellow color, which is quite different from what most people would associate with the locality. This 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 comparable desirable YELLOW Smithsonites many years ago). The color is due to cadmium content, and I've seen one specimen online that says the color is from hawleyite-greenockite inclusions (cadmium sulfide minerals), but I can't say if that's the case with this piece. This piece is a polished specimen (most of them were polished due to the nature of the material) featuring banded soft yellow (cadmium-bearing) Smithsonite along with golden and brown sections. 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. Specimen weight is 65.6 grams.