Quartz

Traversella Mine, Traversella, Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, Italy

6×3,5×3,2 cm.

Amazing jewel from this classic italian locality composed by an explosion of highly lustrous and clear Quartz crystals. Two opposite areas are partially sprinkled with Hematite

showing two different colors, black and red. At the base, green chlorite (Clinochlore) is also visible. Ultimately a captivating and aesthetic specimen at affordable price.

Traversella mine is located nearly 60 km north of Torino, and it was one of the most important mining location for iron exploitation. The Traversella orebody was exploited from late medieval age up to the middle XX century. It is a typical skarn deposit at the contact between a dioritic body (Traversella pluton) and preexisting metamorphic host rocks (micaschists, gneisses and marbles of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone), and the mining district represents the only exploited skarn-type mineralization in the Alps. The mine, after some interruptions and re-openings, was officially closed in the second half of the XX century (1971), due to the high exploitation costs and the competition of the foreign mine deposits interested by iron extraction.

The Traversella area remains an extraordinary reference point for finding beautiful collectable specimens. Some of the mineral species present in the Traversella mines include Siderite, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite, Sphalerite, Quartz, and many other rare minerals, including the occurrence of Uranium mineralization (rich Thorium Uraninite).

The geological origin of these mineral species is associated with hydrothermal mineralization processes. The Traversella mines formed during the late Variscan period, approximately 300 million years ago. The rocks host mineral deposits formed in response to hydrothermal activity involving fluids rich in metals from the depths of the Earth’s crust.

The geological context of the region is linked to the presence of metamorphic rocks, mainly schists and gneisses, which provided the ideal environment for mineral formation during the hydrothermal mineralization process.

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