There are not that many notable locations for quartz crystals in Victoria; however, the Crystal King Quartz Crystal Mine is certainly worthy. Located on Mt. Strathbogie, Crystal King was originally discovered by gold prospectors working the nearby gold diggings. Later, during the 1940s and 1950s, several shafts were dug by a group of Melbourne miners to extract quartz crystal for use in electronics. This period was its heyday and tons of large crystals up to 160kg were obtained.
The Crystal King Mine is located in the Strathbogie Granite Ranges. Several pegmatite pipes host the mineralization which consists of a cream-coloured clayey matrix filled with large crystals of quartz and lesser feldspar. Large cavities in the granite were obviously filled with low temperature fluids, resulting in crystal growth and formation of the clayey matrix.
Currently, the area is under mining lease to recover further crystals. The main shaft was cleared and it was hoped further crystals could be recovered from the bottom. However, no further crystals were found and it appears the company is no longer operating the mine, leaving it in a maintenance state.
The Strathbogie Granite is a huge body of coarse grained to pegmatitic granite and there are no doubt further pegmatite bodies to be found. The countryside is very hilly and forested and access to outcrop is difficult.
Other crystals, including tourmaline, topaz and smoky quartz are found in the ranges.
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