湖北省

Hubei Province, in central China along the middle Yangtze River, is an old and productive mining region whose deposits have supplied both metals and fine mineral specimens. Two themes stand out for collectors: the copper-iron skarns around Daye, and the famous turquoise of the north-west of the province.

Daye and the copper-iron skarns

The Daye district near Huangshi, on the south bank of the Yangtze, is a classic Chinese iron- and copper-skarn area where granitic intrusions met carbonate rocks. It has long produced magnetite and copper ore, and with them collector minerals such as malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite, and well-formed calcite and quartz.

Hubei turquoise

North-western Hubei — the Yunxian, Zhushan and Shiyan area — is a major Chinese source of turquoise, mined there for a very long time and prized for its even blue colour. 'Hubei turquoise' is a benchmark in the Chinese gem and ornamental trade.

For collectors

Hubei specimens range from green-and-blue copper carbonates and bright sulfides of the Daye skarns to polished turquoise nodules, making the province a varied and historically important corner of Chinese mineralogy.