smithsonite

(not assigned)

A thick crust of sub-botryoidal smithsonite on a rib of iron stained carbonate matrix. The smithsonite is highly translucent and a vibrant, very slightly bluish, apple-green in colour, with the botryoids composed of tiny curved rhombohedra. Although this specimen has not been analysed, the colour of the smithsonite is almost certainly due to the presence of copper in solid solution.

This is specimen number 323 in the collection of Wilhelm Klein and his handwritten catalogue confirms that it was collected from 9 Level West in the first oxidation zone. Klein was a senior manager at Tsumeb between 1916 and 1939.