Mimetite var. Campylite

A small cabinet specimen, rich in barrel-shaped crystals of mustard-lime-green Mimetite of the variety Campylite, from Dry Gill mine in the Caldbeck Fells of Cumbria, England.  The Mimetite crystals, which are typically 5 to 8 mm diameter and occasionally larger, display nicely against an underlying sooty black surface of manganese 'wad' which covers a plate of massive white Quartz.  This is an excellent example with decent-sized crystals occurring mainly as individuals and when examined, reveal many variations in their crystallography.  Although access to the underground workings was relatively easy in the 1970s and early 1980s, Dry Gill mine was notoriously dangerous with plunging stopes hidden by decayed timbers covered in rock debris.  Much of the Campylite was also to be found in extremely friable veins which were ever liable to sudden collapse.  This is a terrific specimen of this rarer form of green Campylite from Dry Gill; a specimen which will complement the more typical orange and terracotta coloured crystals more readily seen in collections.