Olivenite
Olivenite is secondary copper arsenate, named in 1821 for its most frequent colour,
olive green. It occurs in a number of deposits, usually as thin acicular crystals in
radiating tufts. It was originally described from the Cartharrack Mine in Gwennap
(Cornwall, England) but has later been found in a number of deposits, to name a few
productive sites: Grube Clara (Wolfach, Schwarzwald, Germany), Laurium (Greece),
Majuba Hill (Pershing Co., Nevada, USA), and Tsumeb (Namibia).
Tsumeb has also produced iron and zinc-rich varieties of Olivenite, and
'Leucochalcite' a white, felt-like variety is known from several localities.
My records indicate that Olivenite from a range of deposits occurs on specimens
that also carry one or more of the following minerals: Achantite, Agardite-(Y), Azurite,
Barite, Bariumpharmacosiderite, Bayldonite, Calcite, Carminite, Cassiterite, Claraite,
Clinoclase, Cornwallite, Crednerite, Cuprite, Fluorite, Goethite, Hematite, Jamesite,
Ktenasite, Malachite, Otavite, Pearceite, Quartz, Serpierite, and Zincaluminite.
Bibliography
Anthony, John Williams, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh & Monte C.
Nichols. 2000. Handbook of mineralogy, vol. 4
Embrey, Peter G. & Robert F. Symes. 1987. Minerals of Cornwall and
Devon.
Gaines, Richard W., H. Catherine W. Skinner, Eugene E. Foord, Brian Mason,
Abraham Rosenzweig & Vandall T. King. 1997. Dana's new mineralogy:
the system of mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, 8th
ed.
Gebhard, Georg. 1991. Tsumeb, eine deutsch-afrikanische Geschichte.
Gebhard, Georg. 1999. Tsumeb, a unique mineral locality.
Hintze, Carl (ed.) 1931-1933. Handbuch der Mineralogie, vol. 1, section 4, part
2.
Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel. 1951. The system of
mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University
1837-1892, 7th ed. Vol. 2.
Ramdohr, Paul & Hugo Strunz. 1980. Klockmann's Lehrbuch der
Mineralogie, 16th ed.
Roberts, Willard Lincoln, Thomas J. Campbell & George Robert Rapp jr.
1990. Encyclopedia of Minerals 2nd ed.
Sinkankas, John. 1964. Mineralogy.
This page is written and maintaned by Claus Hedegaard
