Otavite (on cerussite; w. azurite, malachite and rosasite)

TSNB793
Specimen
Asselborn, E.Feinglos, M.N.Lavinsky, R.Ward's NSE
Exhibit 1. Otavite (on cerussite; w. azurite, malachite and rosasite); 75 mm.
Exhibit 1. Otavite (on cerussite; w. azurite, malachite and rosasite); 75 mm.
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Exhibit 2. 25 mm field of view.
Exhibit 2. 25 mm field of view.
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Exhibit 3. 35 mm field of view.
Exhibit 3. 35 mm field of view.
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Exhibit 4. Otavite on cerussite, 75 mm, photographed in visible light (left) and short wavelength ultra-violet radiation (right).
Exhibit 4. Otavite on cerussite, 75 mm, photographed in visible light (left) and short wavelength ultra-violet radiation (right).
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Exhibit 5. Specimen label (Ward's Natural Science Establishment).
Exhibit 5. Specimen label (Ward's Natural Science Establishment).
Image Credit: MGMH Archive
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Specimen Title

Otavite (on cerussite; w. azurite, malachite and rosasite)

Associated Minerals

azurite; cerussite; hematite (?); malachite; rosasite

Principal Mineral

Otavite

Size

Cabinet; 75mm

Location in the Mine

First oxidation zone

Provenance

Ward's NSE; Asselborn, E.; Lavinsky, R.; Feinglos, M.N.

Collection

MGMH; 2022.4.10042D

Entry Number

Specimen; TSNB793

Description

A cyclically twinned cerussite "snowflake", heavily etched, hosts a complex paragenesis of secondary minerals commencing with malachite encrusted with a pistachio-green mixture of rosasite with iron oxides (both EDS confirmed; Exhibit 2), followed by an extensive crust of pearlescent white otavite (EDS confirmed; individual crystals to 0.2 mm), and concluding with a localised crystallisation of bright blue prismatic azurite (to 1 mm) and a second generation of similarly sized cerussite crystals (Exhibit 3).

Under short wavelength ultra-violet radiation the otavite fluoresces orange-pink and the second generation cerussite fluoresces spearmint-green (Exhibit 4).


Mark Feinglos acquired this specimen from Rob Lavinsky in 2011. It was formerly in the collection of Eric Asselborn and is accompanied by a Ward’s Natural Science Establishment label. While there is no record of its location in the mine the paragenesis is definitive for the upper levels of the first oxidation zone.

All EDS analyses by Frank Keutsch; Harvard University, 2025.