The “Reconquistada” claim is made up of small extractive mining works near the “Dolores” iron mine, in the municipality of Pastrana (Murcia, Spain). In this area there are various exploitations that benefited copper ores. In the case of the “Reconquistada” mineral species, the presence of arsenic in the mineral composition made copper extraction difficult.
From a scientific point of view, these mining works have been important due to the numerous species found. Three of them were identified for the first time worldwide in this mines: barahonaite-(Fe), barahonaite-(Al) and cobaltarthurite (Jambor et al., 2002; Viñals et al., 2008).
But there are other interesting and very colourful minerals. Two of them are very similar in appearance, but distinguishable under magnification: cornwallite and conichalcite. Both are copper arsenates, but conichalcite contains calcium. Cornwallite appears as spherical globules, with a smooth and very brilliant surface, usually with a lighter green color than conichalcite. Conichalcite tends to have a rough surface and a more intense colour.
In this specimen of the photograph, various botryoidal aggregates of conichalcite could be observed, with the characteristics described before, together with an isolated sphere of cornwallite. They are disposed on a matrix with yukonite (an iron and calcium arsenate).
- Jambor, J.L., Viñals, J., Groat, L., Raudsepp, P. (2002) "Cobaltarthurite, a new member of the arthurite group. Canadian Mineralogist", 40, 725-732.
- Viñals, J., Jambor, J.L., Raudsepp, M., Roberts, A.C., Grice, J.D., Kokinos, M., Wise, W.S. (2008) "Barahonaite-(Al) and barahonaite-(Fe), new Ca-Cu arsenate mineral species, from Murcia Province, southeastern Spain, and Gold Hill, Utah. Canadian Mineralogist", 46, 205-217.
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