Hopeite

hopeite

vanadinite

hemimorphite

spencerite

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Formula: Zn3(PO4)2.4H2O
Hydrated phosphate, paramorph of parahopeite, hopeite group
Crystal System: Orthorhombite
Specific gravity: 3 to 3.1 measured, 3.08 calculated
Hardness: 3½
Streak: White
Colour: Yellow, white, colourless, grey or brown; colourless in transmitted light
Solubility: Readily soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid
Environments

Pegmatites
Hydrothermal environments

Hopeite is a rare, late-stage mineral in some hydrothermal zinc deposits and complex granite pegmatites. It has also been found encrusting bone breccia in a limestone cave (HOM).

Localities

At Kintore, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, hopeite is very rare; it has been found in only two specimens intergrown with pyromorphite coating garnet sandstone (AJM 3.1.46).

At the type locality, Vieille Montagne, Kelmis, Plombières-Vieille Montagne-Moresnet mining district, Verviers, Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, hopeite is associated with hemimorphite (Dana, Mindat).

At the Hudson Bay mine, Salmo, Nelson district, British Columbia, Canada, hopeite is found with spencerite (Dana).

At the Tip Top mine, South Dakota, USA, hopeite is associated with triphylite, ferrisicklerite, leucophosphite, laueite, robertsite, hydroxylapatite and sphalerite (HOM).

At the Kabwe mine, Central Province, Zambia, hopeite occurs in abundance encrusting bone breccia in a limestone cave; the bones and teeth are the source of phosphorus for the hopeite (R&M 94.2.126-129). Associated minerals include tarbuttite, hemimorphite, spencerite, smithsonite and vanadinite (HOM, Dana).

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