Huanzala
9.8725° S, 77.0030° W · Exact (< 100 m)
Chalcopyrite, Pyrite and Quartz from Ancash, Peru, with photos of specimens from this locality.
Minerals found here
On the same specimen
Huanzala specimens show sharp, lustrous octahedral pyrite crystals (to about 2 cm) on the face of a crystallized quartz matrix; other pieces show glassy quartz crystals with pyrite scattered through them.
Bright golden pyrite against glassy quartz is one of the best-known Peruvian combination pieces.
Chalcopyrite at Huanzala
- Formula
- CuFeS₂
- Associated minerals
- Sphaleritegalenapyrrhotitearsenopyritequartzcalcite
- History
- Lead-zinc mine of Cia. Minera Santa Luisa (owned by Mitsui Mining & Smelting); chalcopyrite is one of the many sulfides recorded there, with a 1985 paper on the mine's mineralization and paragenesis cited as reference. The mine is better known for pyrite and pink fluorite specimens.
Sources: SRC-010
Pyrite at Huanzala
World-famous sharp, highly lustrous pyrite crystals, often with fluorite and sulfides
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
- Formula
- FeS₂
- Morphology
- Cubes; pyritohedra; octahedra
- Typical size
- Commonly cabinet-size; exceptional crystals can be very large
- Color / luster
- Bright brass-yellow with mirror-bright metallic luster
- Associated minerals
- Fluoritesphaleritegalenaquartzcalcitechalcopyrite
- Surface features
- Commonly strongly striated crystal faces
- Availability
- Commonly available
- History
- Operating polymetallic mine since 1968 with exceptionally large specimen production
Quartz at Huanzala
- Formula
- SiO₂
Geology of the locality
- Setting
- Stratabound polymetallic replacement and skarn-related mineralization in Mesozoic limestone-shale strata
- Type
- Skarn, Hydrothermal
- Host rock
- Limestone; shale; locally sandstone and skarn
- Region
- Ancash
- Country
- Peru
Operating Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag mine, famous for pyrite and fluorite specimens. Modern locality usage places it in Ancash near the Huanuco border.
Sources
- SRC-009 · Article
Geological Features of the Huanzala Ore Deposits, PeruHorita, A.; Oikawa, J.; Tagami, Y. · 1973 · Mining Geology 23(120), 265-274 - SRC-010 · Database
Huanzala Mine, Ancash, PeruMindat.org · Mindat.org - SRC-155 · Website
Pyrite with Quartz (Huanzala)Weinrich Minerals - SRC-156 · Website
3 Lustrous Pyrite Crystals on Quartz, PeruFossil Era
Draft data from the Provenite workbook. Check entries against the cited sources before relying on them. Photos are open-licence images from Wikimedia Commons; the author and licence are given with each photo.