MINE FLOWERS

Baia Sprie was one of the most important mining centers in Romania, known for the extraction of gold, silver, and polymetals, as well as one of the most extensive and rich areas where the beautiful so-called "mine flowers" could be found.
Mine flowers are spectacular and rarely encountered mineral formations that form inside mines under specific conditions. They appear as delicate and enchanting crystals, with fascinating colors and geometries, multicolored iridescences, and varying degrees of translucency and hardness.
Among the more than 70 such minerals identified in the Baia Sprie deposit, seven were discovered and described for the first time here: andorite, dietrichite, felsőbányite, klebelsbergite, monsmedite, semseyite, and szmikite. Additionally, other varieties or synonyms of minerals were also first described here: eggonite – now called sterrettite, kenngottite – a lead-bearing variety of miargyrite, and zinkfauserite – a zinc-bearing variety of fauserite.
The stunning mine flowers from the Baia Sprie and Herja mines can be admired at the Mineralogy Museum in Baia Mare, or in private collections.