Calcite

Geevor mine, close to Land’s End at the most westerly tip of Cornwall, famously extends out under the Atlantic Ocean and has produced fifty-five mineral species.  The name Geevor is derived from the name it was given in the 1700s, Wheal an Giver, meaning a mine on a piece of ground occupied by goats.  It is a mine renowned for many finely crystallised mineral species, one of the most varied in colour and habit being Calcite.  The variety of Calcite throughout the mine is amazing and this is a beautiful example of paper-thin blades of strong apricot and paler peach.  The blades often merge as composite crystals up to 3 cm long, all intermeshed and forming a honeycomb structured dome over a partly crystallised Goethite-rich spongy gossan.  Such shades of orange are comparatively scarce in the mineral world, making these specimens all the more desirable.