Mineral Species
Spertiniite
Type Locality
No
Composition
Cu(OH)2
Crystal System
Orthorhombic
Status at Tsumeb
Believed valid
Abundance
Extremely rare
Distribution
Second oxidation zone
Paragenesis
Supergene
Entry Number
Species; TSNB326
General Notes
Spertiniite was first reported from Tsumeb by Keller and Innes (1986) from West 96 North on 30 Level. Crystals are minute and indistinct, but they form hemispherical to kidney-shaped aggregates, intensely sky-blue in colour, that typically encrust the surfaces of fissures in tennantite-rich sulphide ore.
Gebhard (1999) described material from the same discovery and commented that only a single specimen of spertiniite is known. However, spertiniite has subsequently been identified and verified by XRD on a druse of calcite, in a specimen from the Pinch Collection which is now at Harvard University (MGMH 2020.7.749).
Associated Minerals
calcite; gypsum; keyite; sidpietersite; tsumcorite; tennantite-(Zn); tsumcorite; zincolivenite
