Helgustadir Mine on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Helgustadir mine ( ) is a 
The mine is located near
Helgustadir mine ( ) is a mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
in the east of Iceland where Iceland spar
Iceland spar, formerly called Iceland crystal ( is, silfurberg , ) and also called optical calcite, is a transparent variety of calcite, or crystallized calcium carbonate, originally brought from Iceland, and used in demonstrating the polarizati ...
(a form of transparent calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
) was mined from the mid-17th century to the 20th century. It is the source of the largest and clearest known Iceland spar specimen and the source of most museum specimens of Iceland spar.
It was declared a nature reserve in 1975.
About
Location
The mine is located near Eskifjörður
Eskifjörður (in original spelling; ), or Eskifjördur is a town and port in eastern Iceland with a large fishing industry. With a population of 1,043 it is one of the most populous towns in the municipality of Fjarðabyggð.
History
Eskifjörðu ...
, east of Iceland. Helgustadir mine consists of two mines, known as the upper and lower mine.
Uses
Crystals from this area are known for exceptional clarity, leading to the mineral being named "Iceland spar". Iceland spar from Helgustadir mine was used in optical devices used in physics, chemistry, and geology, most importantly Nicol prisms.
Nature reserve
The nature reserve is 0.9hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...
. Since 2010, it has been on the Environment Agency of Iceland's red list of areas that are likely to lose their protection status.
Theft of crystals
Being a nature reserve, tampering with the rock formations and removing crystals is forbidden. Despite that, visitors often take samples with them, causing a disruption of the area. The problem has gotten worse as tourism has increased, with some visitors filling their backpacks with samples.References
Further reading
* {{coord, 65.0336, -13.8526, type:landmark_region:IS, display=title Mines in Europe Geology of Iceland Protected areas of Iceland