Cerussite

A large (150 mm) group of colourless to pale yellow reticulated (twinned) cerussite blades which display a marked smokiness towards the termination (i.e. remote from the matrix contacts). The two faces of the specimen (exhibits 1 and 2) are essentially parallel, implying that perhaps the crystals grew between two parallel planar surfaces. On one face of the specimen (Exhibit 1) the crystals for an open network with abundant interstitial space while, on the reverse side (Exhibit 2) the crystals are much more closely intergrown with correspondingly little void space. There is a little matrix material with minor relict sulphide at the base of the specimen (as photographed).
The specimen is from the collection of Clement Victor Latz, which was donated to the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience Australia) in 1976. There is no record of earlier provenance or of location in the mine.