Beraunite is an iron phosphate mineral that forms as a secondary mineral in iron ore deposits and as an alteration product of primary phosphate minerals in granite pegmatites. This specimen comes from an open-pit mine within a porphyry copper deposit, located just southwest of Silver City, New Mexico. The area's mining history dates back to around 600 AD, when Native Americans first began extracting turquoise. Underground mining commenced in the 1860s, with large-scale open-pit operations starting in 1968.*
*https://www.mindat.org/loc-4464.html
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