Going down along the main shaft , we came to a major underground station where a large decline (about thirty degree dip) intersected the level.   The drifts have been driven, for the most part, directly along the arsenic (massive realgar) bearing veins.   The deposit is apparently an arsenic enrichment along a main fault area (and the associated  breccia  complex)  emplaced within palaeozoic  limestones. The main realgar  vein can be easily followed at the different levels along the mine thanks to the characteristic red color.

  In most places looking up at the back you can easily see the fresh realgar veins with picro-farmacolite associated.    Vein thickness varies, but is typically about  50 cm to 2 m.      Mineralization was just simple open-space filling, on a widespread scale, both vertically and laterally.  

 In the part of the mine we first visited, vugs were rare and small, and contained only lustrous calcite  crystals. Our guide satisfied our curiosity leading us to an area where a major sequence of vugs were encountered. The vugs into the limestone were covered with  beautiful white scaheodron of calcite and fresh red realgar xls were spread all around the vug. Realgar was not abundant but definitely it was fresh and with beautiful colour.

What a mine!  We were  wondering at the world class specimen found here during the centuries!

Exiting the mine and going through the loading and storage area we met again our guide of Changsa that spoke a bit of English they explained us that in the last couple of year top quality realgar was not abundant. On the contrary high quality Orpiment on calcite and beautiful calcite specimens have been encountered in the last year.

We  cleaned the mud off our boots, and we paid a very limited fee for the service. With Carlo we just comment on our impossibility to communicate! What a pity! I had hundreds of questions to ask, only if we can had a minimun of understanding among us and our guides... 

Returning to Changsha, another few days were spent arranging visits to mineral middlemen and making purchases here and there.   After packing the suitcases one last time at the hotel, our  preparations were complete and I knew it was time to move to our next stop : Guilin.

Our guide managed to convince us that instead of using the expensive flight Changsa-Guilin-Hong Kong we can reach easily Guilin by a night Chinese  train. He arranged for tickets for night accommodations. At 6.00 pm we moved to Changsa station. In the meantime we found the time to visit also the Hunan Mineralogical Museum. They have a quite extensive collection of fossils and minerals of fair-low quality. However they have some good Hunan Geological maps and a nice panel showing the main mines of different typology inside the Hunan Region.

After this short stop we reached the station by taxi. The first impression was "impressive". We never saw so many people crowded all together in the waiting rooms of a station. Thousands and thousands of people! Our first reaction was: why we didn't catch the plane? Then we started to wonder: how can we reach the train in these huge amount of people? Our guide reassured us. Train, he said,  will be announced ten minutes before the arrival. With your ticket you will pass the control  gate  without problem. And I have to say, so it was!. Surprisingly train was announced in time, we move forward in a narrow corridor opened in the crowd, we reach the gates, we shown our tickets and we moved inside the train station. Incredible, almost nobody there, we can say that access were very careful regulated! After five minutes the train arrived and we reached our wagon and we the help of our guide we found our accommodation for night. I have to say all around that facilities are basic but decently clean and in good shape. There was no overbooking so all the night accommodation were filled exactly. After two hours light was switched off, the train master ordered to go to sleep and everybody moved to sleep. That's discipline!, two young girls that delayed to move in their beds talking in the corridor has ordered to shut up  by the train master and move quickly to sleep.

All around we managed to sleep 3-4 hours among the various stops. We arrived in Guilin station at 05.00 am in time. The meeting with our guide was Ok, and we moved in our hotel. After some refresh and relax, at 10.00 am we were ready for Guilin market. Mineral market in Guilin is a bit different from Changsa. The starting point for any search may be the tourist commodity market. Here there is a part of the market completely dedicated to stones, minerals, fossils and Suiseki art. We counted at least 30 shops selling large pieces of minerals for the large majority having little or zero appeals for our collectors taste. Looking for good samples is difficult and requires time and patience. Some of these dealers they have their own private storage were they keep the best material . Other middlemans without any fixed shop arrangement but just exposing minerals on the road market can also have some good stuff. Going around looking at the storages, selecting pieces and bargaining takes time.

We do not discover anything of outstanding but we managed to pick up some high quality Cinnaber from Wanshan Mine, some good Piromorphyte from Daoping and some high quality Cianotrichite as well as some nice Stalactitic Calcites.

In the evening after the mineralogical   rush  , we had time to appreciate the beautiful town of Guilin with its clean road, extremely pleasant and well keep riverside, busy market places, pedestrian areas and friendly people. A nice town definitely setteled in a beautiful environment, 

After four days in Guilin we managed to see some interesting materials, Orpiment from Shimen,, Cinnaber from Ton gren, Cianotrichite  and some of the crazy calcites from Bapu and Leiping areas. We also seen some selected lots of Piromorfite from Daoping  Mine and Mimetite from  Pingtuoning Mine (higly prized and of fair quality)   Definitely also in Guilin it was possible to see from some of the most organized dealers good lots of green fluorites from  from Xianghualin/Xianghuapu, the Antimonites from Wunin. We also managed to see few specimens of the typical Shangbao fluorites and the famous Red Sphalerite from  Shuikoushan.

We also saw some Red-Violet Spinels from a locality  nearby the Vietnam border  with associated Clinohumiet, Condhrodite and Pargasite. In general specimens were unattractive and  highly priced. Also some Rubin from the same metamorphic complex were seen.    

It took three days to select the best quality/price ranked specimems, bargain the price and pack. We select some remarkable Cinnabar, Cianotrichite, Piromorfite, Fluorite  and Calcite. We also picked some new material such as Molybdenite and Deep Blue Emimorphite. 

After this mineralogical rush we all together decided to take some time for tourism. We dedicated our last couples of days to have  a  cruise along  the famous Li RIver and for visiting Guilin main attractions. Li river is well known as  a must for most of the Asian (and not only for Asian) photographers. The water level in the river was high due to the heavy rains of two days before and the water was muddy. However we have been lucky since when we wake up early in the morning the sun was shining and the sky was clear. We have to say that the cruise from Guilin to Yangshao  worth the price (also if high!). Tourism once again is well organized by Chinese. It is handled professionally also if the main effort is  dedicated to handle big groups and organized tours that on the individuals.... However if you want and you have enough time to look around and to organize yourself you may customized your trip on Li River and trekking itinerary in the surrounding to enjoy a more personalized visit.

Landscapes were stunning. The karst topography in this southern area of China is astonishing. You travel for about 60 km surrounded by high limestone peaks having crazy   shapes. Caves are spread all around on the steep flanks of the mountains and some time fresh powerful springs flows from the inside directly in the river. You still can see traditional bamboo fishing boats, the cormorants trained by the villagers  for fishing, thousand of ducks and chickens along the river.

After these tourist break time was over. Carlo toke his way back to Hong Kong and Italy, and us to Jakarta. We all enjoyed the trip also if it was short and demanding . Most likely we will be back for another mineralogical immersion and to visit some other "classic" locality. Just a suggestion if you want to visit these region of China. If you can, avoid July and August ! It's very warm and humid. October , November is recommended for a better stay.

Here below you may see a "flavour"  of some the beautiful material we selected during our trip. Enjoy our galleries on the China Special Section !