realgar

According to Bartelke (1976) realgar was first reported by Biehl (1919) as red inclusions in massive lead and copper arsenates from the upper levels of the first oxidation zone.

This simple description has been repeated by some authors (Pinch and Wilson 1977; Gebhard 1999) while others have simply included realgar in mineral listings (Lombaard et al. 1986), presumably on the basis of Biehl’s original report.

Keller (1984) considered realgar a very rare secondary mineral. Interestingly, however, realgar is excluded from the species lists in three of the more academic studies (Strunz et al. 1958a; Strunz and Tennyson 1967; Geier 1973/1974).

Questionable status is retained for realgar pending modern confirmation.

Undetermined