Provenite

Sweet Home Mine

MineUnknownDraft data

39.3128° N, 106.1181° W · ± 1 km

Enargite and Rhodochrosite from Colorado, United States, with photos of specimens from this locality.

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Minerals found here

EnargiteRhodochrosite

Enargite at Sweet Home Mine

Tabular, striated gray-black enargite crystals on quartz from the Sweet Home Mine.
Tabular, striated gray-black enargite crystals on quartz from the Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Second view of the Sweet Home Mine enargite crystals on quartz.
Second view of the Sweet Home Mine enargite crystals on quartz.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Formula
Cu₃AsS₄
Morphology
Isolated tabular crystals on crystallized quartz
Typical size
Crystals to about 1.5 cm
Color / luster
Metallic gray-black, striated
Associated minerals
Quartz
Surface features
Striated faces
Availability
Scarce
History
Enargite at the Sweet Home Mine is documented here only by a dealer photo label; no second source was opened.

Sources: SRC-657

About Enargite →

Rhodochrosite at Sweet Home Mine

Large, strongly coloured rhombohedral crystals from vugs in rhodochrosite-fluorite veins.

Single translucent deep pink rhodochrosite rhomb about 2 cm long from the Sweet Home Mine.
Single translucent deep pink rhodochrosite rhomb about 2 cm long from the Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Cluster of cherry-red rhodochrosite rhombs with a few quartz needles, from the 1996 Hedgehog Pocket of the Sweet Home Mine.
Cluster of cherry-red rhodochrosite rhombs with a few quartz needles, from the 1996 Hedgehog Pocket of the Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Cluster of pinkish-red rhodochrosite rhombs to 1 cm on contrasting matrix, Sweet Home Mine.
Cluster of pinkish-red rhodochrosite rhombs to 1 cm on contrasting matrix, Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Several translucent pink-red rhodochrosite rhombohedra stacked on a minor quartz and sulfide matrix from the Sweet Home Mine.
Several translucent pink-red rhodochrosite rhombohedra stacked on a minor quartz and sulfide matrix from the Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
A gemmy red-pink rhodochrosite rhombohedron about 1 cm across on white quartz matrix from the Sweet Home Mine.
A gemmy red-pink rhodochrosite rhombohedron about 1 cm across on white quartz matrix from the Sweet Home Mine.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Formula
MnCO₃
Morphology
Rhombohedral crystals, singly and in clusters
Typical size
Crystals up to 15 cm; photographed specimens have rhombs of 1-2 cm
Color / luster
Strawberry red to pink; gemmy ruby-red material linked to the hottest fluid flow
Associated minerals
Quartzfluoritecalcitetetrahedritesphaleritegalenapyritechalcopyrite
Availability
Scarce
History
Mine opened in 1873 as a silver mine and abandoned as a silver venture in 1966; later worked for specimens. The Alma King crystal came from the Rainbow Pocket in 1992.

Sources: SRC-387 SRC-388 SRC-399

About Rhodochrosite →

Geology of the locality

Setting
Base metal-silver-rhodochrosite-fluorite veins; vugs formed where veins change strike or dip, intersect, or bend at faults.
Type
Hydrothermal
Host rock
Mainly meta-igneous and metamorphic rocks, minor mineralization in porphyritic dikes and pegmatites
Region
Colorado
Country
United States

Coordinates from the Mindat locality page (39 deg 18 min 46 s N, 106 deg 7 min 5 s W). The original portal was sealed in 2004; a newer portal (Detroit City Portal) produced specimens from 2018 according to Mindat, so the status is left Unknown.

Sources: SRC-387 SRC-388

Sources

  1. SRC-387 · Database
    Sweet Home Mine, Mount Bross, Alma Mining District, Park County, Colorado, USAMindat.org contributors · Mindat.org / Hudson Institute of Mineralogy
  2. SRC-388 · Website
    Sweet Home MineWikipedia contributors · Wikipedia
  3. SRC-657 · Website
    File:Enargite-266917.jpg (Wikimedia Commons)Robert M. Lavinsky · Wikimedia Commons
  4. SRC-399 · Website
    Wikimedia Commons: Rhodochrosite-132377.jpg (Sweet Home)Lavinsky, R.M. · Wikimedia Commons

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.