FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Carrington]

Is this locality spelled Mina El Potosi or Mina el Potosi?

[Jordi Fabre]

[Peter Megaw]

Thanks Jordi...I'm working on correcting the species list, which is sort of a mess

[Carrington]

Yes Peter, this does seem pretty messy. For me the mystery is the Mimetites. On mindat the locality called Minerales Shaft 5: the small lettering states this is in the Potosi mine, but the bold lettering does not state this. The the small lettering state Tiro Cinco. What does this mean? Is this spanish for shaft 5? Thanks. -By the way, this is Alex, the one who was talking to you about the displays.

[Peter Megaw]

Alex, Tiro Cinco is Spanish for Shaft 5. But this is meaningless since there is nothing unique about mine access via Shaft 5 to the mimetite zone...which is on Level 8 and equally accessible from the #1 Shaft or #5 shaft...and actually was probably collected by guys who tramped in through a surface opening 3 kilometers away well off the Potosi Mine property. What matters is that it comes from an oxidized oreebody on the Q-Denis-Tiro Alto Trend...one of the 6 major ore trends...each of which contains mantos and chimneys at different places and elevations.

This entire issue highlights the compounded errors that start with someone who only vaguely knows the mine...perhaps with an imperfect grasp of Spanish...taking the word of a local who has abundant reasons to dissemble about true location and access. It's amazing they get the state right!

Layers of these errors are embedded in labels (and Mindat) and unwinding them systematically is not a simple process.

[Carrington]

Thanks for the information. I think I will just label my piece as Mina El Potosi. One other question: What would you say about Mina Milpillas in terms of prices. It seems the quality is getting higher, and the amount available is also. Would you estimate that the prices are lowering? What about the lifespan of the mine? Isnt there an estimation that the azurites will deplete in a few years because of something to do witht the oxidation zone? I really like the Milpillas Azurites, and there is one I really want to get,but the price is pretty high. This piece is just perfect though. No damage.

[Jordi Fabre]

Alex,

This is not a commercial Forum, please take care of questions related with prices, buy, etcetera.
Your question is OK because on some way it affect the future of the mine, its oxidation zone... but please take care in your future questions don't be too much related with commercial topics.

Thank you!

Jordi

[Carrington]

Oh, alright, I did not know. I will remember that. Thanks.