Barite

The mines around Les Malinas Mines were first exploited in Roman times. and contemporarily from the 1880s to 1992. These spherically aggregated clusters are referred by the French as “pompoms”. These “pompoms” are attributed to the Les Cedres Mine.  They rest on a bed of sphalerite on which many small galena crystals can be found. Lovely specimen.

Locality: Les Cedres Mine, Les Malines District, Gard, Langue doc-Roussillon,France

Composition: barium sulfate