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Dioptase Update – March 2015

The beautiful dioptase specimens in this Dioptase Update (click here) were found recently – I acquired them from the team currently conducting specimen mining at Altyn Tyube, in the Kirghiz Steppes, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan.

Dioptase, Altyn-Tyube, Kirghiz Steppes, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan – 5.9 cm

Dioptase was first described from Altyn Tyube, the type locality for dioptase, in the nineteenth century. Altyn Tyube is a remarkable deposit in the Steppes, far from everywhere. It was first worked for copper thousands of years B.C., and it is interesting to note that there are very few copper minerals at the locality – dioptase with occasional minor malachite and cuprite.