Pyroxmangite, Taguchi Mine, Japan

Mineral Matters #351

This week’s Facebook Mineral of the Week Group’s selected theme is Japanese minerals.

Now some of you will know that this is a particular interest of mine. And I am heading to Japan later this year.

Over 1,500 mineral species have been recorded, of which, 218 are represented in my collection.

Amongst them is this really nice pyroxmangite specimen from the Taguchi Mine. In Japanese, the locality is 田口鉱山 (Taguchi Kōzan) Taguchi Mine、北設楽郡 (Kita Seto-gun) Kita Seto District、設楽町 (Shitara-chō) Shitara Town、愛知県 (Aichi-ken) Aichi Prefecture、日本 (Nihon) Japan.

According to Mindat, it was a manganese mine, and produced some of the best pyroxmangite specimens in the world. Pyroxmangite crystals were in general only 0.2 to 1mm, but often could be 1cm or more in length, and rarely up to 2.5cm.

Below: Pyroxmangite, Taguchi Mine, Shitara, Kitashitara County, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Width of view 5mm.      

Below: The approximate location of the Taguchi Mine.