Smithsonite - image 1
Smithsonite - image 2
specimen video

Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
Light butterscotch-yellow Smithsonite forms a botryoidal mound of glassy undulating crystals from the Tsumeb mine in Namibia. Yellow Smithsonite is typically attributed to the presence of cadmium and this is quite likely the case with this specimen. The botryoidal habit of the crystals is the effect of composite stepped micro terminations forming a hillocky display surface.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions4.2 x 3.2 x 2.4 cm
Added on10/24/2024
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
—Unknown Owner$400.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot disclosed

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Smithsonite
Mineral guide
Learn about Smithsonite
ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.
Smithsonite
Regional guide
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.