My first minerals for 2013 are additions to my Carbon, Arsenic, Cadmium, Antimony, and Lead suites. From Dakota Matrix I purchased Evenkite and Uzonite. The Evenkite is an organic hydrocarbon, C21H44, and this example is the type locality hailing from the Evenki District in Siberia, Russia. Appearing as several tiny white waxy flakes it’s rather unremarkable looking, but the chemistry is interesting. The Uzonite is one of eight pure arsenic sulphides applicable for my collection, which of course also includes Realgar, Orpiment, and Pararealgar. This is another type locality specimen being from the Uzon caldera in the Kamchatka peninsula, Russia. This specimen is a small 3mm nugget covered in the yellowish powdery crust of Uzonite, with some organge Alacránite present.
I purchased specimens for the first time from www.yourmineralcollection.com, a website operated by Giuseppe Siccardi. The website has a Systematic Shop section: “rare minerals for demanding systematic collectors”, so naturally I was intrigued… The website style is very basic and the photography is not as polished as I’ve seen on other sites, but I did find a number treasures seldom seen for sale. Giuseppe shipped my order expediently without delay, even over the holiday season, and it was really well packaged for protection during transit. I will definitely continue to look for further purchases from Giuseppe’s site.
I had never seen Clinocervantite for sale before, so I was keen to add another applicable antimony oxide into my collection. With examples of Cervantite and Valentinite I now only need to obtain some Sénarmontite to have the antimony oxides completely represented. The Clinocervantite crystals appear as tiny colourless needles in small vugs throughout an antimony rich matrix. This example is from the Tafone Mine, Grosseto Province in Tuscany, Italy.
Sb4.4/4.01 Clinocervantite
Photo by Giuseppe Siccardi
Sb4.4/4.01 Clinocervantite
Photo by Giuseppe Siccardi
From Giuseppe I also ordered an example of Otavite, a very rare cadmium carbonate that I almost never see for sale. This specimen is also from Italy, uncovered from the Su Elzu Mine in the Sassari Province, Sardinia. The Otavite crystals are miniscule white blocky crystals tucked away in a tiny vug.
Cd5.01 Otavite
Photo by Giuseppe Siccardi
Cd5.01 Otavite
Photo by Giuseppe Siccardi
Cd5.01 Otavite
Photo by Giuseppe Siccardi
The last specimen for this post is Phosgenite from the Terrible Mine in Custer County, Colorado, USA. I’m not sure how the mine got it’s namesake, perhaps because it yields ugly specimens such as this:
Pb5.3/4.01 Phosgenite
Photo by Dakota Matrix
Pb5.3/4.01 Phosgenite
Photo by Dakota Matrix
Pb5.3/4.01 Phosgenite
Photo by Dakota Matrix
Ordered from Dakota Matrix, this example is not quite as aesthetically pleasing as some other (much more expensive) examples of Phosgenite I’ve seen for sale that exhibit beautiful euhedral crystals with a lovely transparency. This heavy specimen consists of a couple of cleavage zones of Phosgenite embedded in a mass of Cerussite. With this rock my collection of lead carbonates is almost complete, with only one more to obtain (Fassinaite.)
All in all, not a bad start to 2013…
Element Expressions 