Detailed information
Species
Pyromorphite, Coronadite
Dimensions
42 x 60 x 15
mm
Locality
MMM Mine, Broken Hill Yancowinna Co., New South Wales Australia
Condition
No recorded repairs
The famous MMM mine at Broken Hill in Australia worked the line of lode orebody and is situated within the city of Broken Hill, towards the north-east. On this 6 x 4 cm miniature, Pyromorphite crystals coat both sides of a flat plate of Coronadite, a lead-manganese oxide of matt, sooty black appearance. The Coronadite is mainly masked by the butterscotch toffee coloured Pyromorphite and a very light creamy-tan fine-grained altered sandstone. The Pyromorphite forms glassy, parallel sided prisms with a simple, flat pinacoid, the latter often a slightly lighter shade than the prism. The crystals range between 1 and 5 mm long and where they contact the Coronadite, appear a greyish graphite-tinged pale orange. The base and edges are coated with fine acicular Pyromorphite crystals of pale straw to limey lemon.