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Formula: Zn(Fe3+0.5Mn2+0.5)2ZnFe3+(PO4)3 (OH)3(H2O)8
Hydrated phosphate, schoonerite group,
zinc- and manganese- bearing
mineral
Crystal system: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 2.89 measured, 2.82 calculated for the empirical formula
Colour: Orange-brown, red, copper-red
Environments
Schmidite is a relatively new mineral, approved in 2017 and to date (September 2025) reported only from the
type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Hagendorf South Pegmatite, Hagendorf, Waidhaus, Neustadt an der Waldnaab District, Upper
Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany, schmidite, in close association with altered
phosphophyllite, was the most common
secondary phosphate assemblage in a heavily corroded
triphylite nodule, located at 67 m from the surface of the mine, in the
granitic
pegmatite. The
triphylite in the nodule had been replaced by
phosphophyllite and
vivianite, and these minerals, together with
apatite, had been further altered to a rich spectrum of
secondary phosphate minerals including
laueite, whitmoreite,
jahnsite subgroup minerals,
mitridatite,
scholzite–parascholzite,
stewartite,
zincostrunzite, hopeite,
parahopeite and
schoonerite group minerals. Schmidite was also found in
fissures in phosphophyllite, collected at depths between 60 and 67m.
Other closely associated minerals in these specimens are vivianite and
decomposed, white chalky zwieselite.
Schmidite occurs as aggregates of orange–brown to red laths on the surface of altered
phosphophyllite in a corroded
triphylite nodule. The lath dimensions are typically 0.1 to 0.5 mm long
but only a few μm thick. Schmidite also forms sprays of shiny copper-red, needle-like rectangular laths in
fissures in altered phosphophyllite. The schmidite laths are
brittle and have one perfect cleavage
(MM 83.2.181-190).
Schmidite from the Hagendorf South Pegmatite -
Image
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