smithsonite (w. galena)

Modified rhombohedral crystals (to 12 mm) of dark, toffee-brown smithsonite, on a plate of sulphide ore which includes some well-developed crystals of galena (at the right-hand margin of the image in Exhibit 1). The smithsonite appears to have grown both displacively in the oxidising sulphide ore and as free-standing crystals.

The specimen is from the collection of A. Glen Smith, which was donated to National Museum of Australia in 1982 and is now housed at Geoscience Australia, in Canberra.

galena