shattuckite

Shattuckite is a common mineral at several localities in northern Namibia (Bowell et al. 2013), but its occurrence at Tsumeb is questionable.

Shattuckite at Tsumeb was first recorded by Pinch and Wilson (1977) who stated that it occurs "… as blue to dark blue compact granular to fibrous masses". Keller (1984) simply repeated this description citing Pinch and Wilson (1977).

Lombaard et al. (1986) listed shattuckite as "very rare" but without further comment.

According to Gebhard (1999) "The copper silicates chrysocolla, plancheite and shattuckite all somewhat resemble each other. They have been found sparingly throughout the deposit." It is not entirely clear, however, if his comment on distribution refers to all three minerals individually or to a widespread occurrence of generic copper silicates.

From a geochemical perspective the occurrence of shattuckite at Tsumeb is entirely plausible but, except for Lombaard et al. (1986) there is no reference to shattuckite from Tsumeb in the peer-reviewed literature, and no published analysis verifying the mineral from a specimen of unequivocal Tsumeb provenance. There is a likelihood that some putative shattuckites from Tsumeb have been identified only by colour and habit, while other specimens have been incorrectly attributed to Tsumeb. For these reasons questionable status is retained for shattuckite pending a reliable confirmation.

dolomite (?); malachite (?)