Reinerite
Rare arsenite (arsenate(III)) mineral
Reinerite is a rare arsenite (arsenate(III)) mineral with chemical formula Zn3(AsO3)2. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system.
01Physical properties
Reinerite is most commonly found as a sky blue colored mineral, however, it may also be a light yellowish green color. Reinerite has a relative hardness of 5 to 5.5 on the Mohs Scale which is equivalent to that of a knife blade and or shard of glass. It has a density of 4.27 g/cm3, and it exhibits a nonmetallic luster that may be described as glassy or vitreous.
02Environment
Reinerite develops in dolomite-hosted locations. It is known especially from Namibia, Africa, within the mines of Tsumeb. At the Tsumeb location, Reinerite develops within the polymetallic lead-zinc-copper deposit, 800 m (2,600 ft) below the surface, in the second oxidation zone. It occurs in association with chalcocite, bornite, willemite, smithsonite, hydrozincite, hemimorphite, adamite, olivenite and gebhardite.
03History
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Reinerite”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Reinerite, Legrandite, Adamite-1126654.jpg by Franz Neuhold (formerly Breier), Public domain
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