Svartsång iron and limestone mine.

DESCRIPTION

The Svartsång mining field lies 2.5 km east of Sunds mining field (Sundsgruvefältet), 9 km south-east of Persberg.
It consist of nine small iron mines and one small limestone quarry. The three biggest mines lies close to the old road between Gammalkroppa and Svartsång. About 300m to the south is five more mines, and close to the rivulet south of Svartsång lies the last mine (Maraksgruvan). Between the Maraksgruvan and the three first mines lies the small limestone quarry. (661735/141860)

GEOLOGY

The mining field is opened in a fragment of leptite totally surrounded by Filipstads granite.
In the three northern mines the iron ore is followed by a coarse pyroxene scarn with some garnets. Along the scarn there is a thin zone of limestone with garnet, diopside and wollastonite.
In the southern iron mines the limestone is less massive and there is only small quantities of wollastonite. The scarn consists of mainly pyroxene and aktinolite.
In the limestone quarry the limestone is crossed by some granite dikes. The zone between the granite and the limestone consists of a thin layer of wollastonite together with minor quantities of garnet, diopside, epidote and vesuvian.

VISITS

My first visit here were during the 1997 Bergslagen tour. It was in the morning of the second day, and I was dissapointed after waisting time on a brief tour to the Nordmark field. I had read that there were crystals of vesuvian in the limestone, and I would like some samples to learn this mineral, so I made a detour down to Gammelkroppa and the Svartsången quarry.
I was following the directions of Hans-Jürgen Wilke as good as my german allowed me and was surprised when I suddenly drove right thru the quarry, only some meter wide and about ten meters long at both sides of the road. The quarry was all filled with water and to the left of the road (south) there is a small swamp.
In retrospect, I suspect that it wasn't the limestone quarry I visited. I think it was the Maraksgruvan I visited, I better make one more trip to check if I'm right.

Litterature

Persbergs malmtrakt, Kungliga kommerskollegium och SGU 1925
Beskrivningar över mineralfyndigheter 2
pg 211
Die Mineralien und Fundstellen von Schweden, Hans-Jürgen Wilke (1997)
Pg 76,78

Mineral assemblage

Magnetite, wollastonite, epidote, diopside, vesuvian, calcite, molybdenite, garnet.

Wollastonite
It was very easy to collect wollastonite. It was just to move some of the rocks in the waist rock dump to find nice peaces. The wollastonite is brown on weathered surfaces, on fresh surfaces it has a creamy white nuance.
Collected 1997-10-09
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Molybdenite
This was a complete surprise. When I was trimming a stuff with diopside a piece of the rock fell off and when I checked it before throwing it away I discovered a perfect hexagonal crystal of molybdenite. Unfortunately the crystal was damaged in the process ( a fracture right through it) but it holds together.
Collected 1997-10-09
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Vesuvian
This is a small crystal of vesuvian (1x1 cm). It's crystal form is far from perfect, but some faces are discernable. It have a dark green color and is striated along the crystal. The top of the crystal shows a typical pattern from growing intosome other mineral.
Collected 1997-10-09
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

If you have some questions, suggestions or comments you are welcome to write me a line or two.

Locality index. Main index.

axelsson@acc.umu.se

	Wollastonite It was very easy to collect wollastonite. It was just to move some of the rocks in the waist rock dump to find nice peaces. The wollastonite is brown on weathered surfaces, on fresh surfaces it has a creamy white nuance. Collected 1997-10-09 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Molybdenite This was a complete surprise. When I was trimming a stuff with diopside a piece of the rock fell off and when I checked it before throwing it away I discovered a perfect hexagonal crystal of molybdenite. Unfortunately the crystal was damaged in the process ( a fracture right through it) but it holds together. Collected 1997-10-09 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Vesuvian This is a small crystal of vesuvian (1x1 cm). It's crystal form is far from perfect, but some faces are discernable. It have a dark green color and is striated along the crystal. The top of the crystal shows a typical pattern from growing intosome other mineral. Collected 1997-10-09 (300 dpi, 800x600, k)