Red River Drop

Regular price $48.00

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This red crusted material popped up on the scene about 6-8 years ago and evaporated into the hands of talented silversmiths and avid collectors just as fast as it appeared! I was absolutely GIDDY to get my hands on this parcel. Right away I noticed that this little pocket is showing tighter matrix patterns and contrasting light and dark coloring. This is from Bamboo Mountain County, in the QinGu Mining district of China in Hubei. TEST RESULTS ARE IN ON RED RIVER!! The primary mineral profiles (not sure if that's the technical term lol) came back as svanbergite and faustite! Which is really interesting because that first mineral is from the alunite family and faustite is a part of the phosphate family. And while it is not typical for these two minerals to form together, you can not predict mother nature. Faustite is a rare cousin to turquoise and I know it is found with Variscite and chalcodiderite. This is from the stabilized batch.