Home > Uranium Minerals I – August 27 > MS0755 altered Uraninite

altered Uraninite - Sold


Classically known as gummite, the orange encrustations on this and similar looking specimens have been a long standing mineralogical debate. Frondel (1956) identified dozens of different species in various gummite specimens, and Foord et al. (1997) later found schoepite-like minerals in material from this locality. This piece has uraninite blebs (former crystals) to 1.0 cm across, altered to an intense orange color. The alteration color in this example is especially pronounced! Cursory spectral studies indicate the presence of mineral like schoepite and probable fourmarierite. This specimen was part of the personal collection of Ralph Merrill, proprietor of the prolific mail order business Minerals Unlimited. Mr. Merrill believed this specimen to contain joliottite and notes an X-ray identification in 1997.