Pitwak Mine, Sar-e-Sang River, Sar-e-Sang, Kuran wa Munjan District, Badakhshan, Afghanistani

Regional Level Types
Pitwak Mine	Mine
Sar-e-Sang River	River
Sar-e-Sang	Skarn
Kuran wa Munjan District	District
Badakhshan	Province
Afghanistan	Country

Pitwak Mine, Sar-e-Sang River, Sar-e-Sang, Kokcha Valley, Badakhshan, Afghanistan

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PhotosMapsSearchMineralogy

This place cannot be located with certainty. It is either one of the portals in the near vertical string of adits in the first header picture or most probably it is all of them, as we have two different pictures of the mine entrance. It is on the north shore of the Sar-e-Sang River at the confluence with the Koksha.

Pitwik (Pitwak) is where the better gem-quality yellow or well-crystallized scapolites come from there (Dudley Blauwet, priv. comm. 2013) - see https://www.mindat.org/photo-1254567.html. They are from a gypsum diapir which requires a near vertical host structure as shown in the photos.

The orthoclase pseudomorphs after marialite are sometimes blue. So far the blue has avoided identification as a mineral. Please see: http://www.mindat.org/mesg-105-318134.html

The Pitawak mine is located on the eastern side of the entire Sar-e-Sang deposit and on the northern bank of the Sar-e-Sang river. Petawi or Pitawak (پیتوک) refers to the sun’s light directly shining on the mountain in the Dari language. Some previous studies referred to this area as Pitwak. This time, we confirmed the correct name of the mine with local people, who believed that Pitawak should be used as its exact name. Pitawak mine mainly produces lapis lazuli.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

12 valid minerals. 1 erroneous literature entry.

Rock Types Recorded