Vrbaite

vrbaite

realgar

orpiment

thallium

Images

Formula: Hg₃Tl₄As₈Sb₂S₂₀
Sulphosalt, sulpharsenite, mercury-, thallium- and antimony- bearing mineral
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 5.27 to 5.33 measured, 5.29 calculated
Hardness: 3½
Streak: Pale yellow-red
Colour: Dark grey-black with a bluish tint, dark red in thin fragments
Environments

Hydrothermal environments

Localities

At the type locality, Allchar, Ržanovo, Kavadarci Municipality, North Macedonia, vrbaite occurs as small orthorhombic crystals embedded in realgar and orpiment in a hydrothermal arsenic-thallium sulphide deposit (Mindat, HOM).
Allchar is a famous epithermal deposit with several rare thallium minerals. Allchar ore is a disseminated gold - arsenic - antimony - thallium - mercury mineralisation hosted in Triassic carbonates, Tertiary interbedded volcanic tuffs and dolostones, and Pliocene felsic tuffs. Both the Triassic and Tertiary rocks are intruded by hydrothermally altered, porphyritic, subvolcanic rocks (Mindat).

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