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Formula: SnO
Simple oxide, anthropogenic
Crystal System: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 6.374 calculated
Hardness: 2 to 2½
Colour: Black
Environments
Romarchite occurs as an alteration product on pewter (tin) objects and is found on veins containing native
tin
(Webmin).
Localities
At the Maria-Teresa Mine, Huari, Avaroa Province, Oruro, Bolivia, romarchite occurs replacing
herzenbergite replacing
cassiterite
(HOM ).
At the type locality, Boundary Falls, Winnipeg River, Kenora District, Ontario, Canada, romarchite has been found
as an alteration product on tin cooking utensils submerged since 1830, associated
with hydroromarchite
(Mindat, Dana, HOM).
At the Sharm Abhur Cove, Jiddah, Mecca Region, Saudi Arabia, romarchite has been found on
tin ingots from the cargo of a ship wrecked in the cove, associated with
abhurite, kutnohorite,
aragonite and cassiterite
(HOM).
At Beaufort, North Carolina, USA, the Queen Anne's Revenge flagship of Blackbeard the pirate sank in 1718. The wreck
was discovered in 1996 and pewter artefacts from it were all corroded with corrosion products are composed of
romarchite, hydroromarchite and
abhurite. The corrosion generally develops in crudely concentric layers, with
an inner layer of abhurite in contact with the pewter; the overlying outer
layers consist of romarchite and hydroromarchite. All three
minerals occur as irregular grains and laths up to 100 micrometers in length, and
abhurite also occurs as masses of equant grains with abundant small
inclusions of residual pewter
(CM 41.649-657).
At the US Virgin Islands, romarchite is abundant in a vein with
cassiterite, native tin,
copper and lead, and various
lead-tin oxides and hydroxides
(Dana).
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