Tsumeb Treasures

May 30, 2020 - The Tsumeb Mine was a world-class ore deposit in Namibia that was mined since the late 1800's, and then in phases as it declined into the early 1990's.  largely for copper, lead and zinc with silver, cadmium and germanium recovered as by-products. According to mindat.org, 328 mineral species have been documented from the mine and it is the type locality for an astounding 72 mineral species! Tsumeb is also acclaimed for producing the “best-of-species” for many minerals. Over the last couple of months, we have sorted through our old collections and unpacked many things put away for years, selecting many Tsumeb pieces originating from a variety of important collection acquisitions such as Shields and Frances Flynn, Charlie Key, Marshall Sussman and others. Species range from the more notable and common minerals from the locality such as smithsonite, azurite, dioptase and cuprite to incredible examples of rare species such as leiteite, alamosite, legrandite and reinerite. We are pleased to be able to present this substantial Tsumeb update for your review, curated by longtime collector and friend Dr. Tom Campbell, who wrote the text and took the photos as well.