Tennantite

Tsumeb Mine in northern Namibia is one of the world’s most celebrated mineral localities, known for its extraordinary range of copper, lead, zinc, and arsenic minerals. Tennantite is part of the mine’s primary copper-sulfide ore and occurs alongside minerals such as bornite, chalcocite, and enargite. What makes Tsumeb especially interesting is how groundwater moved through the deposit’s fractured, cavity-rich dolomite, creating several oxidation zones and producing an exceptional variety of secondary minerals. Commercial mining largely ended in 1996, but historic specimens are still studied and new mineral discoveries continue to emerge from old collections.