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Formula: NaCe(SO4)2(H2O)
Sulphate, cesium-bearing mineral
Crystal system: Trigonal
Specific gravity: 3.149 calculated for the empirical formula
Hardness: 2½ to 3
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless
Luminescence: Not fluorescent
Solubility: Slowly soluble in water at room temperature
Environments
Chinleite-(Ce) is a new mineral, approved in 2023 (?) and to date (April 2025) reported only from the type
locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Blue Streak Mine, Bull Canyon Mining District, Montrose County, Colorado, USA,
chinleite-(Ce) was found underground in the deposits in sandstone. In the mine tunnels, under ambient
temperatures and generally oxidising near-surface conditions, water reacts with
pyrite to form aqueous solutions with relatively low pH (relatively acid). The
secondary minerals form on the tunnel walls from the oxidation
of montroseite-corvusite
assemblages in the moist environment.
Chinleite-(Ce) has been found very sparingly on only a handful of small specimens. They occur on the surface
of montroseite-corvusite-bearing
sandstone, commonly lying more or less flat on a thin veneer of
phlogopite. Closely associated
secondary minerals include
mathesiusite, boltwoodite,
gypsum and hummerite.
Chinleite-(Ce) crystals are prisms with pyramidal or poorly formed skeletal terminations up to about 70 microns
in length and 20 microns in diameter
(CJMP 63.199-204).
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