Mawbyite (w. hematite and wulfenite)

hematite; quartz; wulfenite

A plate of partly oxidised sulphide ore with minor quartz and a veneer of red-brown hematite hosts severely etched crystals of pale butterscotch-coloured wulfenite (to 3 mm) and flattened, elongated crystals (to 1 mm) of bright red mawbyite.

The specimen was acquired from TCL mineralogist John Innes in 1985, labelled as "red tsumcorite". Mawbyite was described as a new mineral (from Broken Hill, Australia) by Pring et al. (1989) and the Tsumeb "red tsumcorite" was later analysed and confirmed as mawbyite (Terry Seward, pers. comm. 2010). The paragenesis of this specimen is definitive for the second oxidation zone.