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Formula: MgNi2+2(Te4+O3)3.3H2O
Hydrated tellurite
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 4.42 calculated for the empirical formula
Hardness: 3
Streak: Pale green
Colour: Pale yellowish green
Luminescence: Does not fluoresce
Environments
Sedimentary environments
Hydrothermal environments
Wortuperite is a new mineral, approved in 2022 and to date (February 2024) reported only from the type
locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Worturpa Mine, Vulkathunha - Gammon Ranges National Park, North Flinders Ranges, South
Australia, the mineralisation consists of irregular veins, lenses and pods of
quartz and calcite, with scattered
crystals of pyrite and disseminated
malachite within scapolitised
limestone and calcareous
siltstones of Neoproterozoic age (1 billion to 538.8 million years
ago).
Wortupaite is intimately associated with melonite, upon which it is
found growing. Calcite is the gangue
mineral on the holotype specimen. Other minerals previously identified from the Wortupa mine include
quartz, native gold,
pyrite, chalcocite,
malachite, azurite and
goethite, as well as scapolite,
however none of these were observed on the holotype specimen.
Wortupaite formed after oxidation of melonite, from which its major
component elements (nickel and
tellurium) were derived, probably under near-surface conditions.
The Mg2+ in
wortupaite was most likely to have been leached from minerals such as
magnesite or magnesium silicates in associated sedimentary rocks, which
then mixed with the Ni- and Te- rich fluids produced on the surface of weathering
melonite to form wortupaite.
Wortupaite forms pale yellowish green needles and prisms, often in clusters and blocky masses. The needles
may reach 25 μm in length, but are generally shorter
(MM 87.908-915).
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