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Formula: Al6(PO4)4(OH)6.11H2O
Hydrated phosphate
Crystal system: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.21 measured, 2.287 calculated
Hardness: 2
Streak: White
Colour: Pearly white
Luminescence: Not fluorescent
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, the Kobokobo pegmatite, Mwenga Territory, South Kivu, DR Congo, kobokoboite forms 0.1 to
0.15 mm thick crusts and coatings of pearly white, glistening, platy crystals, usually on a matrix of
frondelite and keckite. Other
associated minerals reported include a fine-grained mixture of planerite,
variscite and wavellite, as
well as muscovite-2M2, evansite
and hydroxylapatite. Individual crystals of kobokoboite are
rectangular plates or flattened blades. The crystals have a pearly lustre, are translucent but transparent on edge
and have a white streak. The fracture is irregular and the tenacity is brittle
(EJM 22.2.305-308).
Kobokoboite is a secondary mineral formed by weathering
of the upper branch of a zoned albite -
beryl - microcline
pegmatite of the LCT
(lithium - cesium -
tantalum) family
(HOM).
Kobokoboite from the Kobokobo pegmatite -
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