The Xianghualing Orebody

Loosely translated from a Chinese web site: There is a treasure mountain in south of QiTianLing Mountain between HuNan Province and GuangDONG Province - the XiangHuaLing tin mine. It is located in the mountains between BeiHu district, LinWu county, and ChenZhou city YiZhang county. This area was famous for its large reserve, high quality tin mine. 

The Xianghualing and Xianghuapu mines

Mineral research in China is relatively new. Zhou and Cao (1997) explain that before 1949 there were very few mineralogists in China, and they relied on old methodologies and poor technology. Following the Communist takeover, the first new mineral to be discovered was hsianghualite. From 1966 to 1973 the Cultural Revolution impeded further research, and few new minerals were discovered. In 1981, after the founding of the New Mineral and Nomenclature Committee of China (1979) and when China joined the International Mineralogical Association (1981), concerted efforts to find new minerals was renewed.

Xianghualing

The Xianghualing deposits are famous for spectacular crystallized fluorite but recently several new collector discoveries have been made, including vividly fluorescent eucyptite.  These mines and mineral tailngs are near the city of Chenzhou in west-southwest Hunan Province. Chenzhou has a population of about 500,000 citizens, and is at the center of this mining and mineral-rich area, perhaps one of the most productive “specimen areas” in China. The mines are about 120 kilometers south-southwest from Chenzhou over mostly well-paved highways, thru green hills and rice paddies. From Lin Wu, a small city near the mines, you must travel over about 20 kilometers of rural roads to reach the mining areas.

The Xianghualing ore deposit of the Nanling Mountains primarily consist of tin mines. It is located about 80 km southwest of Chenzhou in Linwu County--a region rich in ore deposits. The earliest mining activities for tin and asnenic here are dated to 907-960 A.D. During the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620 A.D.) lead/zinc mines were worked at Taipingli, Caiyuanzi, and other sites in the Xianghualing area. The Xianghualing orebody covers an area of 36 square km; an area of Devonian sedimentary rocks with intrusions of Mesozoic-age “Qianlishan” granites. The deposit contains three major types: a granitic tantalum/silver deposit, a hydrothermal tin/beryllium and tin/lead/zinc deposit, and a tin-bearing occurrence in sandstone. The ore field consists of numerous deposits of tin, tungsten, molybdenum, bismuth, copper, lead, and zinc

The Xianghualing mine is located on Xianghualing Mountain. There are many old brick buildings and large mine dumps. Most underground access to the deposits is through adits at various elevations. You can spot many mines with rails coming out of the hills at throughout the area. Ore is extracted from the several large mines in the area and from many of these smaller mines - all unconnected. The ore reserves are nearly exhausted, but new minerals are being sought - with a special focus on uranium minerals.

A cassiterite mine, at an elevation of about 1,594 meters on Mount Xianghualing, yields deep green fluorite in cubic crystals, many over 10 cm. Calcite is common, both in massive and various crystal forms. In long-wave ultraviolet light, some of the fluorite fluoresces blue, and some of the calcite fluoresces bright orange. Crystals of scheelite (bright blue/wnite) are sometimes found - white crystals to 1 cm. Fluorite from Xianghualing is highly sought-after by collectors (result - high prices) due to their size and color. Reportedly, this has led to the use of irradiation to "improve" the green color of lower-end specimens. This artificial color is not stable and may affect the fluorescence of the specimens.  Topaz, is found as a colorless fine-grained constituent of the cassiterite veins and the deposit is also the type locality for two rare mineral species: balipholite, a barium magnesium lithium aluminum silicate hydroxide fluoride, and hsianghualite, a lithium calcium beryllium silicate fluoride.

Xianghuapu

The mine at Xianghuapu, lying halfway between Linwu and Xianghualing produces primarily tungsten and tin, and minor quantities of tungsten and tin. Fluorite from this area is commonly green with brownish interior color zones, and some large, sharp, colorless and bright blue, cubic fluorite crystals are also found there. . Fluorite, as a gangue mineral in the deposit, is so significant that it is also extracted as ore for industrial uses as well as specimens for the collector market. The deposit appears quite large, with large tailings at the side of the canyon.

Other Mines in the Area

Close to Chenzhou there are several other significant mines: Huangshaping (lead/zinc), Shizhuyuan (tungsten and bismuth), and Yaogangxian (tungsten). Shizhuyuan is known for superb manganocalcite, and occasionally galena and sphalerite and bright green fluorite (from a mine called Dongpo, Shizhuyuan district, about 25 km southeast of Chenzhou).

The former scheelite mine at Dongshan, 6 km north of the town of Linwu, has closed for commercial mining. A few of the workings in the old district are still being mined on a private basis. The scheelite ore is overgrown by fluorite, and often specimens with scheelite crystals to 5 cm protruding from massive yellow-brown scheelite are found. Fluorite from Dongshan is often transparent with a high luster. Colors vary from almost colorless through bright blue and bright green, and crystals reach 10 cm. The Dongshan deposit also produces pale green fluorite with blue-colored zones at the corners. Typical associated species include pink dolomite and white quartz, massive galena and sphalerite are found at the deposit's contact with granite. The Dongshan mine is smaller than the Xianghualing and Xianghuapu, only because it is newer and has not been in production as long as the others.

The Chashan mine is located about 3 kilometers from the Xianghuapu mine and is primarily a large lead-zinc-tin producer. Fluorite from the Chashan mine is very similar to specimens from the Xianghuapu mine. Sphalerite and galena - the two chief ore minerals - form fine crystalline and cleavable masses. Other minerals include colorless scheelite crystals, bladed pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, dolomite, and massive dark green chlorite.

{Much of the information on this page was summarized from an article by Martin Jensen in the Jan 2005 issue of Rocks and Minerals, and Berthold Ottens in the Jan 2007 issue of the Mineralogical Record - along with personal observations and photos from our partner in China.]