Image Credit: RRUFF Database Project (Lafuente et al. 2015; RRUFF ID 150128)
Mineral Species
Munakataite
Type Locality
No
Composition
Pb2Cu2(Se4+O3)(SO4)(OH)4
Crystal System
Monoclinic
Status at Tsumeb
Confirmed
Abundance
Extremely rare
Distribution
Second (?) oxidation zone
Paragenesis
Supergene
Entry Number
Species; TSNB250
General Notes
Munakataite was first observed from Tsumeb on a specimen in the collection of Shields Flynn (USA), and was initially mistaken for connellite. The munakataite was verified by EDS, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy at the University of Arizona. It occurs as sheaves of minute blue needles associated with galena, mimetite, plumboselite, quartz and smithsonite (Shields Flynn, pers. comm. to M. Southwood, October 2015; Flynn et al. 2016). The presence of plumboselite provided crucial confirmation that the specimen originated from Tsumeb and circumstantial evidence for a second oxidation zone origin. This specimen is now in the Feinglos Collection at Harvard University (MGMH 2022.4.10403T).
Specimens analysed by Joy Désor in 2021 added anglesite, cerussite, linarite, olsacherite and schulenbergite to the list of associates (https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=2428&min=31727; accessed February 2023).
Associated Minerals
anglesite; cerussite; clausthalite; galena; linarite; mimetite; olsacherite; orlandiite (?); plumboselite; quartz; schulenbergite; smithsonite
