Casapalca Mine

Casapalca, Chicla District, Huarochirí Province, Lima, Peru

A lead, zinc, and silver mine, source of a reasonable number of interesting minerals.

This mine and the area around it are one of the sources of the blue Peruvian anhydrite, commonly sold as angelite.

Mindat lists 34 minerals from the site, but personally I think the most interesting is the crystalline rhodochrosite found here; specimens of which are of an excellent quality.

Ore collectors will find fine ore minerals including chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite.

Sphalerite, Galena and Quartz can be found in combined plates, often with small needle Quartz crystals, similar to the Bulgarian material we in Europe are probably more familiar with.

The mine connects underground to the Yauliyacu mine, another part of the Casapalca mining district – however, they are operated by seperate companies as far as I can tell.

 

Further reading

 

If you are interested in other classic Peruvian locales we may have stock from the following locales.

Peruvian locales

 

For the rest of our Peruvian stock, see below.

Peru

Minerals from Peru