Cassiterite

The Viloco Mine (sometimes called Araca) for many years has stood as one of the top Cassiterite localities in the world. This mine is still active today and bears the unique distinction of producing the only GEM quality (facet grade) Cassiterites from any mine in Bolivia. Considering the millions of tons of tin ore that Bolivia has yielded, the fact that only one mine ever produced transparent Cassiterite is remarkable.

This piece is one of the single largest twinned Cassiterites from Viloco that I’ve handled. Crystals of this size from Viloco are almost impossible to find. It is a superb, lustrous, sharp, classic, somewhat gemmy, jet-black to deep maple amber colored cyclic twinned crystal group with minor Quartz and matrix on the underside. Amazingly, the piece is in great shape all the way around, with only a little roughness near the base of the piece where it detached from the pocket wall. If you’re in the market for a large and impressive Cassiterite twin from Viloco, this is a great example of this well-known material.

Specimen # BOL711B168