Cassiterite

Although I dearly love these specimens of Cassiterite from the famous deposit of the Bejewans Tin Stream Works at Sancreed near St. Just in Cornwall, I have to admit they would not win a beauty contest and may even be termed a little beastly!  This quite ugly yet greatly appealing specimen is of a crystalline, partly fibrous form of Cassiterite, occurring as intergrown crude brown-black infillings between patchy off-white Quartz.  The Quartz occurs as dirty cream crystal sections distributed randomly, floating in the Cassiterite groundmass, with orange-tan Quartz across on long edge.  From the alluvial deposit near to Bejewans, south-west of Penzance, this specimen could be classified as the variety “wood tin” due to its micro-fibrous habit, although magnification is required to observe this.  An interesting specimen from a great Cornish location and certainly will make a nice addition to any Cornish collection.