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Formula: BaFe3+3(PO4)(SO4)(OH)6
Valence: BaF3+3(PO4)(S6+O4)(OH)6
Phosphate, beudantite group,
alunite supergroup,
barium-bearing mineral
Crystal system: Trigonal
Streak: Yellow
Colour: Orange
Environments
Sedimentary environments
Hydrothermal environments
Cloudite is a new mineral, approved in 2023 and to date (Januaty 2026) reported only from the type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, 180 level, Iron Monarch Main Pit, Iron Knob, Pastoral Unincorporated Area, South Australia,
the iron ore deposits are hosted by a sequence of chemical metasediments. The iron ore mineralisation was formed
primarily by supergene enrichment of an iron formation
involving dissolution of gangue minerals and partial, or total, replacement
of magnetite by hematite. The
orebody contains pods of high-grade manganese ore, and the presence of
iron and manganese with small
amounts of copper, zinc,
bismuth, silver, phosphorous,
arsenic and other elements has led to an unusually diverse mineralogy,
formed as a result of weathering.
Alunite supergroup minerals, including
alunite, crandallite,
gorceixite, hidalgoite,
jarosite, kintoreite,
natrojarosite and
plumbojarosite, have been found throughout the quarry.
Gorceixite was a common mineral in a zone of a siliceous
banded ironstone on the 180 level of the quarry.
Cloudite has been found on several specimens collected from this zone in the 1990s. It occurs in seams in a
matrix composed of quartz and
hematite, and associated with
gorceixite, fluorapatite
and baryte.
The cloudite forms orange tabular to equant crystals up to 40 microns across that show minor to significant
compositional zonation
(CJMP 64.95-104).
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