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Chibuku Mine, Zimbabwe – February 2023

I’ve posted exceptional new specimens from the Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District, Masvingo, Zimbabwe (click here). They don’t fit into a simple description, as they don’t have only one attribute – all in this update are sceptres, almost all are amethyst or have amethystine zoning, many have some smoky zoning, many have two-phase inclusions (i.e fluid with a moving bubble), some have phantoms, and some have truly exquisite inclusions.

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 11.0 cm

Amethyst and smoky quartz sceptres from Chiredzi have been known locally for at least two decades. Originally, the crystals were gathered by hand from surface showings by members of the people indigenous to the area, the Shangaan people. Specimen recovery efforts of this kind still take place in part of the locality, with only basic tools.

The first more involved workings at the property were developed in 2012. At the outset, the locality was one project, operated by partners. However, as seems to happen so often in such arrangements, difficulties arose. These led to the division of this locality into two separate side-by-side areas of operation. One operation is called the Shangani Mine, named after the Shangaan people. It has been worked by hand by Shangaan diggers. The other operation is named the Chibuku Mine. One of the principals running the mine has explained to me that the name refers back to the early times of local specimen recovery. At that time, the collecting work was done mostly by the women of the community, while men from the community were seen sitting about, drinking locally-brewed Chibuku beer (and not digging)… The mine name is therefore a laugh and also in that light can be seen as a tip of the cap to those hard-working early diggers whose efforts first brought these wonderful specimens out to the world. The Chibuku Mine operations are currently run by two principals, Sultan and Baba, as a professional specimen mining operation.

The Chibuku Mine was shut down during Covid and finally allowed to re-open in November 2022. Upon resumption, many local workers were hired to reopen the specimen mining operations. After a period of hand work, an excavator was brought in and mining now progresses at the Chibuku Mine with drilling and blasting to uncover pockets in the hard rock.

The Chibuku Mine and the Shangani Mine have produced substantial numbers of crystals over the years. Unfortunately, from the beginning of these crystal recovery efforts – and continuing even to the present day – most crystals have been moderately-to-badly damaged and are therefore not pieces I’d put on the website. However, the best from the 2022-2023 workings at the Chibuku Mine (represented by this hand-picked lot) are better than most specimens from surface digging and hand recovery in the past – they are truly exceptional quality.

I’ve taken quite a few photographs to capture the many wonderful attributes of the specimens from the Chibuku Mine.

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 5.7 cm

Same specimen as above
Field of view 4.5 cm

Hematite inclusions in the tip of the main crystal above

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 4.7 cm

Colour zoning in the same crystal above
Field of view 3.9 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.8 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 4.4 cm

A closer view of the hematite inclusions in the same crystal above
Field of view 2.2 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.6 cm

Zones within the same crystal above, viewed through a different crystal face.
Hematite inclusions, radiating outward, are also visible.
Field of view 1.2 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 4.2 cm

Colour zoning and hematite inclusions in quartz, var. amethyst, Chibuku Mine,
Chiredzi District, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 1.3 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.7 cm

Quartz, var. smoky/amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.8 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 4.7 cm

Close-up of the same crystal above, showing zoning and hematite inclusions
Field of view 1.4 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.3 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 5.5 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 5.1 cm

Hematite inclusions in the same crystal above
Field of view 1.2 cm

Quartz, var. smoky quartz (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.0 cm

Hematite inclusions in the larger crystal above

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.8

Hematite inclusion in the same crystal, above

Quartz, var. smoky quartz (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 5.4 cm

Hematite inclusions in the same crystal above

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.2

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.9 cm

Colour zoning, phantom and hematite crystal inclusions, same crystal above
Field of view 0.8 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.7 cm

Colour zoning and hematite inclusions in the same crystal above
Field of view 2.5 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 4.8 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 3.0 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 4.8 cm

Colour zoning, hematite inclusions and phantom in the larger crystal above

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.8 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.1 cm

Same crystal above, field of view 2.0 cm

Same crystal as above, bubble in two-phase inclusion,
negative crystal inclusions and hematite inclusion

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe – 6.3 cm

Hematite inclusions in the same crystal above

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Bubble in two-phase inclusion just left of centre
Field of view 3.2 cm

Quartz, var. amethyst (sceptre), Chibuku Mine, Chiredzi District,
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Field of view 2.1 cm