Everything about Hemimorphite totally explained
Hemimorphite, is a
sorosilicate mineral which has been mined from days of old from the upper parts of
zinc and
lead ores, chiefly associated with
smithsonite. It was often assumed to be the same mineral and both were classed under the same name of
calamine. In the second half of the
18th century it was discovered that there were two different minerals under the heading of calamine - a zinc
carbonate and a zinc silicate, which often closely resembled each other.
The silicate was the more rare of the two, and was named hemimorphite because of the hemimorph development of its
crystals. This unusual form, which is typical of only a few minerals, means that the crystals are terminated by dissimilar faces. Hemimorphite most commonly forms crystalline crusts and layers, also massive, granular, rounded and reniform aggregates, concentrically striated, or finely needle-shaped, fibrous or stalactitic, and rarely fan-shaped clusters of crystals.
Some specimens show strong green
fluorescence in shortwave
ultraviolet light (253.7 nm) and weak light pink fluorescence in longwave UV.
Occurrence
Hemimorphite most frequently occurs as the product of the
oxidation of the upper parts of
sphalerite bearing ore bodies, accompanied by other secondary minerals which form the so-called
iron cap or
gossan. Hemimorphite is an important
ore of zinc and contains up to 54.2% of the metal.
The regions on the
Belgian-
German border are well known for their deposits of hemimorphite of metasomatic origin, especially
Vieille Montagne in
Belgium and
Aachen in
Germany. Other deposits are near
Tarnovice in upper
Silesia,
Poland; near
Phoenixville,
Pennsylvania; the
Missouri lead-zinc district;
Elkhorn,
Montana;
Leadville,
Colorado; and
Organ Mountains,
New Mexico in the
United States; and in several localities in
North Africa. Further hemimorphite occurrences are the Padaeng deposit near Mae Sod in western
Thailand;
Sardinia;
Nerchinsk,
Siberia;
Rabelj,
Slovenia;
Bleiberg,
Carinthia,
Austria;
Matlock,
Derbyshire,
England.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hemimorphite'.
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