Smithsonite - image 1
Smithsonite - image 2

Smithsonite

M

MIM Museum
0 for sale

Nacreous rhombohedral crystals of a pale pink color. Specimen is 7.5 cm across, with individual crystals to 3.2 cm. One of the earliest specimens in the MIM collection, acquired in 1998.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
Added on10/22/2024
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →
Publications
  • Mineralogical Record Volume: 54, Issue: 4 page 59

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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.