PROVINCE GUIDE
Jiangxi Province: Giants of Copper, Tungsten and Stibnite
Jiangxi hosts Asia's biggest copper and tungsten mines — and collector treasures: De'an green fluorite, giant Wuling stibnite, Xihuashan classics.
De'an: Fluorite in Green and Everything Else
The De'an fluorite mine at Wushan, Jiujiang Prefecture, is one of China's most productive specimen sources — bright green, blue, purple and multicolor fluorite in cubes and complex habits, classically perched on sparkling drusy quartz. A De'an specimen with a dominant focal-point crystal on white quartz is a textbook example of what collectors call "dominant crystal aesthetics," and the mine has produced pieces that rank among China's best fluorites. Two-habit specimens — where fluorite crystallized in different forms during successive growth phases on the same piece — showcase the deposit's long, episodic hydrothermal history.
Wuling: Stibnite to Rival Anything on Earth
The Wuling antimony mine in Wuning County produced, starting around 2002, metallic stibnite swords and sprays to 37 cm and beyond — crystals whose size, luster and sharp terminations place them alongside Hunan's Xikuangshan at the summit of the species. The 2002–2003 finds flooded briefly, then stopped; the material has been climbing in value since. Radiating groups with unbroken terminations are the prize.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Xihuashan and Piaotang: Tungsten Classics
The Xihuashan orefield at Dayu County — tungsten workings on a vast scale since the early 20th century — and its Piaotang mine have given collectors classic associations of fluorite with quartz, wolframite, and sulfides. A green octahedral fluorite with quartz from Piaotang (2008) graces prominent Western collections, and the district's role in world tungsten supply gives its specimens genuine historical resonance.
Deeper Cuts
The Xiefang mine in Ruijin County offers a mineralogical curiosity: quartz pseudomorphs after calcite sitting on green fluorite — hollow quartz "casts" preserving the shape of dissolved calcite crystals, a frozen record of changing fluid chemistry. The Chengmenshan copper mine near Jiujiang produces crystallized native copper, and the Dongxiang copper mine contributes quartz, calcite, azurite and malachite to the province's roster.
Collector's Notes
De'an fluorite is abundant enough to collect on any budget, and its luster is characteristically satiny rather than mirror-bright — know the locality's character and judge pieces against it, not against Yaogangxian glass. Wuling stibnite demands condition scrutiny: stibnite is soft (hardness 2), bends and bruises easily, and perfect terminations are what separate good from great. Beware "improved" fluorite colors on inexpensive material; natural De'an green needs no help.
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Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Recent Developments (as of 2026)
Jiangxi's picture is mostly one of closed classics on rising prices. De'an fluorite mining has ceased, and the two-tone purple-green octahedra now on the market are old stock — a small sharp-octahedron pocket in 2021 sold out quickly. The giant lustrous Wuling stibnite that rivaled Xikuangshan came from 1997–2003 pockets, and like all antimony material it is now affected by China's 2024 export controls. Among still-active sources, the Piaotang/Xihuashan tungsten workings share Yaogangxian-type geology and produce green fluorite (though they remain little known to collectors), and the Xiefang deposit has actively supplied green fluorite over calcite plus cabinet barite through 2022–2024.
Sources and further reading
Factual background for this article draws on Liu, G., Lavinsky, R.M., Meieran, E.S., Schmitt, H.H., Moore, T.P. & Wilson, W.E. (2013), Crystalline Treasures: The Mineral Heritage of China, a supplement to The Mineralogical Record vol. 44 no. 1, together with MyMineralBox locality notes and standard mineralogical references. Recent-developments facts are drawn from the dated sources linked in the panel above. All text is original to MyMineralBox.
الأسئلة الشائعة
What is De'an fluorite?
Green, blue and purple fluorite, often on drusy quartz, from the De'an mine in Jiangxi. Mining has ceased, so current material is old stock — including two-tone purple-green octahedra prized by collectors.
What is Jiangxi Province known for?
Jiangxi hosts Asia's largest copper (Dexing) and tungsten (Xihuashan) mines, and for collectors: De'an fluorite, giant lustrous Wuling stibnite, and Xiefang green fluorite over calcite.