Mineral Species
Ashoverite
Type Locality
No
Composition
Zn(OH)2
Crystal System
Tetragonal
Status at Tsumeb
Questionable
Entry Number
Species; TSNB33
General Notes
Ashoverite, allegedly verified by SEM, EDS and XRD is described as a coating of platy crystals on smithsonite on a specimen from the collection of Walter Kahn. (https://www.mindat.org/locentry-574775.html; accessed November 2019).
A similar specimen in the collection of Brent Thorne has also been verified by XRD and EDS (https://www.mindat.org/photo-212893.html; accessed November 2019).
Although ashoverite has been verified by analysis on these two specimens, there is no record of this species in the peer-reviewed literature. Thermochemically, its presence is unexpected at Tsumeb because the zinc hydroxides are very reactive to other anionic species in aqueous solution (Williams 1991).
Questionable status is retained for ashoverite pending suitable analytical verification on a specimen of unequivocal Tsumeb provenance.
Associated Minerals
smithsonite (?)
