Smithsonite, Calcite - image 1

Smithsonite, Calcite

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Smithsonite on calcite, 4.6 cm, from Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region, Namibia. Collected in 1974; Jeff Scovil photo.

Product details

Species

Smithsonite, CalciteAbout Smithsonite →

SizeMiniature

Dimensions4.6 cm

Added on02/13/2026

Locality

Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Publications

Mineralogical Record Mineral Collections In Arizona page 196

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Smithsonite

Learn about Smithsonite

ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.

Smithsonite

Smithsonite from Tsumeb, Namibia

is one of the defining collector minerals of Tsumeb: not merely because it is common there, but because Tsumeb turns a usually massive or botryoidal zinc carbonate into a locality signature mineral with uncommon crystal variety, depth of color, and association. Tsumeb smithsonite spans the familiar apple-greens and blue-greens of copper-bearing material, soft pink to violet-pink cobaltoan and manganoan-looking rhombs, yellow-brown and chocolate-brown iron-rich crystals, pale grey to white crusts, colorless to translucent rhombs, and rare red-pink material from the deeper oxidized workings. The best specimens combine sharp rhombohedral or scalenohedral crystals with the sculptural mineralogical theater for which Tsumeb is famous: galena-rich sulfide matrix, sugary dolomite, black tennantite and pyrite ore, cerussite, mimetite, malachite, wulfenite, duftite, dioptase, and willemite.