Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Specimen Title
Smithsonite
Associated Minerals
conichalcite-duftite (?)
Principal Mineral
Size
Thumbnail; 25mm
Location in the Mine
Undetermined; Blue Pocket
Provenance
Robison, J.
Collection
Southwood, M.; MS2013.016
Entry Number
Specimen; TSNB804
Associated Minerals
conichalcite-duftite (?)
Description
A small specimen of smithsonite from the famous "Blue Pocket", comprising a druse of intergrown, weakly colour-zoned rhombs of greenish-blue smithsonite (to 6mm). A little conichalcite-duftite (?) is present in the matrix on the reverse side of the specimen.
The specimen was purchased from James Robison in 2013, but with no record of earlier provenance. The location in the mine of the "Blue Pocket" is not recorded.
The specimen has been 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 principal chromophore is Cu (15564 ppm) in the presence of low concentrations of Fe (10 ppm) and Mn (4 ppm). Analytical data is presented in Exhibit 2.
