Minerals from Argentina

Argentina is not especially well known on the international mineral specimen market, but the country does produce a number of interesting and sometimes quite striking minerals.

It has historically mined a range of materials, including borates, lithium, copper, lead, silver, and gold. Argentina has significant lithium brine deposits in the north of the country, forming part of the so-called “Lithium Triangle” shared with Bolivia and Chile.

For collectors, the most recognisable material is probably rhodochrosite. The Capillitas mine in Catamarca Province has produced large, stalactitic growths of pink to red rhodochrosite, often cut into slices or polished for ornamental use. Some of the material is botryoidal or forms in concentric bands, making it quite distinctive. Occasionally good crystallised specimens appear, but these are much less common.

There are also decent examples of fluorite, quartz, and baryte from various localities across the country. Patagonia has yielded agate and jasper nodules, and there are scattered finds of andradite garnets and epidote in some provinces.

The ‘pink Amethyst’ geodes from the country have proved controversial over the past ten years or so – whether or not we consider them a form of amethyst is still questionable.

Pieces from Argentina aren’t widely circulated compared to more prolific regions, but the rhodochrosite in particular is well worth looking out for.

Argentina