Willemite with Rosasite

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Willemite, a rare zinc silicate species, is known to occur in quite distinctive well-formed crystals at Tsumeb mine. This small cabinet specimen features a bed of glassy, transparent, pale grey, stout prismatic Willemite crystals, terminated with rhombohedra, and with extensive coatings of blue-grey botryoidal Rosasite on top. Rosasite, a copper zinc carbonate hydroxide, is certainly not common at Tsumeb either, producing a rich combination specimen of these two unusual species. The Willemite is particularly well crystallized, but does really require magnification to be appreciated in full. It is quite different to the highly sought blue botryoidal Willemite from Tsumeb, but in this case the crystals are much sharper and well defined.