History · Geology
About Wanshan Mine
The Wanshan Mercury Mine in Guizhou Province is China’s most historically significant cinnabar locality — operating from at least the 17th century through 2002, when the deposit was largely depleted. It supplied the bulk of the world’s scarlet cinnabar pigment for centuries and remains the type-locality benchmark for collector-grade rhombohedral cinnabar crystals on white dolomite matrix.
Geology & Signature Specimens
The deposit is hosted in dolomitized Lower Cambrian carbonates of the Wanshan-Tongren mercury belt. Cinnabar formed from low-temperature hydrothermal fluids depositing as sharp rhombohedrons, often paired with quartz, calcite, dolomite, and minor stibnite. Specimens are characterized by deep cherry-red transparent crystals on chalk-white dolomite — a contrast that has made Wanshan material globally iconic among mercury-mineral collectors.
Minerals Produced Here
- Cinnabar (辰砂)
