Cassiterite - China
Cassiterite from China is one of our Top 100 Minerals.
Cassiterite is the most common of the collectible minerals found at Mount Xuebaoding in Sichuan Province. The superb lustrous, black crystals, in aesthetic associations with densely packed gray muscovite, tabular beryl crystals, and bright orange scheelite, are world-class. Twinning is common and the association seen on Xuebaoding specimens is rather distinctive and unlikely to be confused with material of other localities.
Another Chinese cassiterite locality of note is the Amo Mine, Ximeng County, Simao Prefecture in Yunnan Province. During the 1990s, this mine produced some outstanding sixling twins; some with 360 degree completeness. The best of these yellowish-highlighted brown crystals exhibit a high degree of diaphaneity and luster, and occur up to 6 cm in size. The matrix is generally a granular quartz.
The Yaogangxian mine is also producing fine specimens of cassiterite, though the species tends to play second fiddle to some of the more important ones of that locality.
