Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Specimen Title
Smithsonite
Associated Minerals
cerussite; goethite
Principal Mineral
Size
Cabinet; 87mm
Location in the Mine
Undetermined
Provenance
Chidley, C.M.
Collection
Geoscience Australia; R27281
Entry Number
Specimen; TSNB787
Associated Minerals
cerussite; goethite
Description
Sea-green botryoidal smithsonite, comprising sheaf-like composites of parallel growth rhombs, lining a vug in altered dolostone. Sparse V-twins of colourless cerussite (to 8 mm) have crystallised on the smithsonite, and the whole is partly overgrown by concentrically layered spherules of goethite.
The specimen was donated to the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience Australia) by C. M. Chidley, in 1975.
The specimen was analysed by EMPA-WDS and LA-ICP-MS as part of a study of the causes of colour in smithsonite (Weall 2023; Southwood et al. 2025). They hypothesised that the colour of the smithsonite is due to the presence of Cu (18851 ppm) which is in solid solution in the smithsonite.
