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Formula: Zn2Mg(CO3)2(OH)2.4H2O
Carbonate
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.613 calculated for the empirical formula and 2.558 for the ideal formula
Hardness: about 2
Streak: White
Colour: Snow-white
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under UV
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Post-mining origin
Šlikite is a relatively new mineral, approved in 2019.
Localities
At the type locality, the Vladimír shaft, Plavno mine, Hanušov, Ostrov, Karlovy Vary District, Karlovy Vary
Region, Czech Republic, the ore district is a classic example of Ag + As + Co + Ni + Bi and U vein-type
hydrothermal mineralisation. The ore veins cut a complex of medium-grade metasedimentary rocks of
Cambrian (538.8 to 485.4 million years ago) to Ordovician (485.4 to 443.8 million years ago) age, in the
envelope of a Variscan (The Variscan orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late
Paleozoic (538.8 to 251.9 million years ago) continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form
the supercontinent of Pangaea - (Wiki)) granite pluton.
The majority of the ore minerals were deposited during Variscan mineralisation from mesothermal fluids.
Primary and supergene mineralisation in the Jáchymov
ore district resulted in extraordinarily varied associations; more than 440 mineral species have been
reported from the district, which is a type occurrence for more than 50 mineral species, including
šlikite.
The samples containing šlikite were discovered underground in the Vladimír shaft, in association with
brianyoungite,
hexahydrite,
hydromagnesite,
nesquehonite, serpierite,
smithsonite and a relatively abundant phase related to
ktenasite on the surface of altered
skarn (with sphalerite,
magnetite, maghemite and
chalcopyrite) in the vicinity of hydrothermal uranium vein No. 13.
Šlikite is of post-mining supergene origin; it occurs as
bladed crystals in radial aggregates, up to 2 mm across in vugs or on surfaces of fragments of
skarn rocks. Individual crystals are very thin blades, up to 200 microns
in length. It is snow-white in colour; crystal aggregates are opaque to transparent; individual crystals or tiny
fragments are translucent; it has a white streak and vitreous lustre
(EJM 31.5.1047-1054).
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