Home > Skorpion, Broken Hill, Salmo – July 24 > MS1376 Zincolibethenite in Hemimorphite

Zincolibethenite in Hemimorphite - Sold


Zincolibethenite is a newly recognized copper zinc phosphate, having the same crystal structure as libethenite. As zinc enters the libethenite crystal structure, it occupies one of two different copper positions. When the Zn:Cu ratio exceeds 1:3, the mineral is zincolibethenite (Braithwaite et al., 2005). This specimen consists primarilly of hemimorphite, the rather common zinc silicate with hemimorphic crystal development. Once called calamine, Kenngott (1853) assigned hemimorphite its modern name. Hemimorphite here displays a sea foam blue coloration due to inclusions of zincolibethenite. The color suffuses through the otherwise transparent and colorless hemimorphite.