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Formula: Hg1+4Al(PO4)1.74(OH)1.78
Phosphate, mercury-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 6.40 calculated
Hardness:
Streak: Off-white to cream
Colour: Colourless
Luminescence: No fluorescence in UV
Environments
Sedimentary environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Artsmithite is a very rare mineral; although it was approved in 2002, to date (Septemner 2022) it has been
reported only from the type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Funderburk prospect, Pike County, Arkansas, USA, the pale grey
sandstone seems to have been metamorphosed to
quartzite.
The principal mercury-bearing mineral at the locality is
cinnabar, which occurs as fracture fillings and as disseminated grains in
the sandstone. Other
mercury-bearing phases include
calomel, eglestonite, native
mercury, metacinnabar,
montroydite and
terlinguaite.
Artsmithite is very rare; only a few micromount specimens have been recovered. On the holotype specimen,
artsmithite is associated with mm-sized quartz crystals that are,
in part, stained with orange goethite, micropatches of
cinnabar and pale orange, yellow or colourless micaceous crusts of
dickite. Additional accessory minerals that have been reported include
baryte, calcite,
fluorapatite, galena,
livingstonite, perhamite,
pyrite, siderite,
stibiconite and stibnite. The
minerals occur primarily as fracture fillings in the sandstone,
with cinnabar, quartz and
dickite as the principal phases. These
primary minerals are generally believed to be hydrothermal
in origin. Cinnabar is considered to be the original source for the
formation of secondary minerals of
mercury in vuggy dickite at
the prospect, and the frequent association of artsmithite with
calomel further suggests this, as
calomel is known to be a common alteration product of
cinnabar
(CM 41,721-725).
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