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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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