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Cobaltoan calcite from Agoudal Mine, Bou Azzer District, Southern Morocco.
Agoudal (30*29'53.42"N 6*38'46.78"W) is a small mining area near Ait Abdellah village, 26 km to ESE from Bou Azzer (Co-Ni mining centre). Agoudal Mine exploits a hydrothermal vein consisting of massive skutterudite. The vein is vertical, 400 m long and of variable thickness from a few to 50 cm. The vein cuts Neoproterozoic metamorphic rocks (Tiddelin Fm.). During guarry exploitation erythrite and sphaerocobaltite were observed. By now the vein is exploited by an underground Agoudal Mine where only massiv skutterudite is encountered. Cobaltoan calcite (cobaltocalcite) is present in the neighborhood of the main vein in small quartz-marcasite-calcite-Co calcite veins. The veins usually are composed of alternating generations of white calcite and pink Co calcite. Calcite covers sometimes small quartz cristals and marcasite. This type of mineralization is connected to tectonic cracking areas and tectonic breccias and also fills in hydrothermal karst in carbonate rocks. In the veins numerous small geodes with calcite and Co calcite cristalls occur. The enormous diversity of cobaltoan calcite specimens is due to the fact that every geode is chracterized by different forms, colour and size of cristals. The colour can vary in one geode from white calcite to intensiv pink or violete cobaltoan calcite. The cristals size usually does not exceed 3 cm. During last 10 years in Agoudal Mine thousands of cobaltoan calcite specimens have been found. Only some of them were bigger than 5 cm and were not damaged. In 2012 and 2013 many specimens of very good quality and length ca. 20 cm were found. Some of them we present here.
>>> View cobaltoan calcites nad cobaltoan dolomites from Bou Azer for sale
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