Formula: Pb4Zn(OH)6(SO4)2
Sulphate
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 5.939 calculated for the empirical formula
Hardness: 3½
Streak: White
Colour: light blue to light green or nearly colourless
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under long wave or short wave UV
Solubility: In room-temperature dilute hydrochloric acid, zincochenite turns opaque and then slowly dissolves
Environments
Zincochenite is a new mineral, approved in 2022 and to date (June 2024) has been reported only from the type locality.
Localities
The type locality, the Redmond Mine, Waterville Lake, Haywood County, North Carolina, USA, was a
lead-zinc mine, discovered about 1905 and operated
sporadically on a small scale until the mid-1940s. The ore, consisting mainly of galena and
sphalerite with lesser chalcopyrite,
occurs in an epithermal vein system consisting of disconnected sulphide-bearing quartz
lenses near the contact between a granite
gneiss and a mica
schist. Zincochenite occurs in vugs in massive
galena - sphalerite -
chalcopyrite - quartz in close association
with bechererite, chenite,
cherokeeite, elyite,
lanarkite, steverustite, and several other
potentially new minerals.
Zincochenite crystals vary in habit including tablets, blades, and prisms up to about 0.5 mm in maximum dimension. Crystals
always occur in tightly intergrown subparallel clusters. The mineral is usually light blue but varies to light green or nearly
colourless. The streak is white and the lustre is vitreous to resinous
(CJMP 62.3.529-536).
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