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GeneralHydrozincite

21st Jul 2010 23:06 UTCDonna Gandy

Is hydrozincite a good mineral to buy? I read it is rare but there are large clusters of it available on the internet. Are these man-made or real?

21st Jul 2010 23:08 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Hydrozincite isn't particularly rare or attractive :)

21st Jul 2010 23:13 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

It does fluoresce brilliantly under ultraviolet light though.

22nd Jul 2010 01:25 UTCSteven Kuitems Expert

Donna, there is at least one exception to Jolyon's thought and that is the very large and thick crystal masses from Goodsprings Nevada area. the crystals are very thin, pearly white elongated prisms. When they are not compacted together tightly the crystals are brilliant and attractive (IMHO). But Jolyon is right in that most hydrozincite specimens are crusts or masses of compacted microscopically thin crystal aggregates. They often make spectacular bright fluorescent specimens.

Steve.

22nd Jul 2010 01:54 UTCRock Currier Expert

Donna,

I have seen many so called "hydrozincite" specimens offered by Chinese dealers. All that I have seen look like Calcite or Aragonite cave formations. If you want to buy one of these you should question the sell as to how he knows for sure that the material is really hydrozincite and who did the analysis and what analysis was performed. There is a locality in Iran that produces what are almost certainly the finest hydrozincite crystals in the world. Long spear shaped prismatic terminated crystals some at least a inch long. The best specimen from this locality I have seen is in the Sorbonne.

22nd Jul 2010 16:51 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

Most of the chinese hydrozincite is mainly calcite with only a few small specks or light dusting of hydrozincite on it ( if any). They sell it as hydrozincite because it sells better than calcite.

22nd Jul 2010 22:26 UTCDonna Gandy

Here is a picture of one that I am considering. It is $240. What do you think?

22nd Jul 2010 22:30 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Probably aragonite or calcite.

22nd Jul 2010 23:28 UTCDonna Gandy

Would it still be worth paying $240 for if it is calcite or aragonite? I do not really care what it is, I just liked the particular specimen but I do not want to pay more than I should (or worse have it deteriorate) for something that was misrepresented.

22nd Jul 2010 23:46 UTCDon Saathoff Expert

Donna, before I'd pay more than $100 for that specimen, I'd require the seller to prove to me that is hydrozincite with a short-wave ultra-violet lamp. Aragonite & calcite both may fluoresce but not with the brilliant bluish white of hydrozincite. OR, if you don't care, offer much less than what the seller is asking and just be happy with a rock that you like.

Don S.

6th Aug 2010 16:53 UTCDonna Gandy

I bought the specimen. It is really neat and looks like clouds or cotton. It looks nice sitting on my shelf. And it is so WHITE! It stands out from my collection and is the whitest rock I have (other 'white' ones are really beige or dirty-colored). I am very happy with it. I paid $220 which was more than I hoped to pay but I guess it was worth it. It is really adorable.

Jolyon, I think you are right. It seems like it is aragonite to me. I have not tried a SW UV lamp test though because I do not know where to get or borrow one.

Reiner...well it could be calcite instead of aragonite. It does have an aragonite appearance to it but I do not know much about rocks and it could be anything. I do have calcite that does resemble it a little (mostly in shape).

Rock currier...it probably is a cave formation. It is just so white. I have never seen a mineral this white without discoloration

6th Aug 2010 18:53 UTCSteven Kuitems Expert

Donna, I think you did very well, a high caliber specimen, pristine and aesthetic for a white mineral with interesting three dimensional form!!

Most likely you will have some UV responses in both SW and LW light, perhaps even some phosphorescence. Enjoy that nice piece of the creation! Just like art-work it is about the perception and enjoyment of the piece/specimen much more than any intrinsic worth.

Steve.

9th Aug 2010 18:30 UTCDonna Gandy

Thank you Steven. I think this specimen was really adorable. It looks soft and fluffy enough to sleep with!

12th Aug 2010 02:32 UTCNicole Dc

Steven Kuitems Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Donna, there is at least one exception to Jolyon's

> thought and that is the very large and thick

> crystal masses from Goodsprings Nevada area. the

> crystals are very thin, pearly white elongated

> prisms. When they are not compacted together

> tightly the crystals are brilliant and attractive

> (IMHO). But Jolyon is right in that most

> hydrozincite specimens are crusts or masses of

> compacted microscopically thin crystal aggregates.

> They often make spectacular bright fluorescent

> specimens.

> Steve.

Thanks for sharing.

__________________

12th Aug 2010 03:19 UTCRock Currier Expert

Keep in mind that these things are almost certainly cave formations and that the organizations in Europe and the USA that explore caves have a strict code of conduct about not removing these kinds of things from caves and have been known to expel members that take these things from caves.The Chinese on the other hand will rape and pillage any cave they can gain access to at the drop of a hat and it is possible to buy container loads of cave formations in China if you want them. Here in the USA and other countries, mining activities often encounter cave networks and sometimes mine through them and frequently tens of thousands of specimens are retrieved and sold, but keep in mind that the caving community in general are not happy with this. I suppose that there may be some sort of vague distinction between caves that can be accessed through natural opening in the surface of the earth and those which are encountered through mining which would nor be accessible naturally from the surface but it is not sharply defined. Perhaps its a bit like ladies that wear fur coats and those that think it is immoral for them to do so. Or perhaps a bit like baning the sale of ivory because people feel that free trade in ivory will cause the extinction of the elephant.

23rd Sep 2010 00:46 UTCDonna Gandy

I usually do not buy cave formations because I find them more attractive in the cave and they do not seem attractive enough to buy for a collection. The ones I have seen were unattractive and would have been better left in a cave. When I purchased this specimen I did not think it came from a cave and I still do not know for sure if it did. I am guessing it may have because it is pure white. I figured the specimen would not be as white as it appeared in the pictures and that it would be a light beige or off-white color similar to a piece of aragonite I have, so it was quite a shock when I received it. I wish I knew more about it.

24th Sep 2010 05:46 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Donna's original question ("Is hydrozincite a good mineral to buy?" ) implies that there are "bad" minerals to buy, and I'd have to agree that any mineral that isn't a bad mineral to buy would be a good mineral to buy. So what's a bad mineral to purchase? Any you don't personally like and enjoy looking at, for starters, which is a matter of individual tastes that no other collector can decide for you. Then any that are overpriced considering their abundance and obtainability, or any that are likely to become much more abundant in future (which is luckily often easier to figure out than whether the stock market will go up or down). And finally, unstable minerals for which you don't have adequate preservation facilities.

24th Sep 2010 06:30 UTCRock Currier Expert

Good and bad are relative terms that need to be measured against various standards. In most cases since we are buying a mineral in this case, money is the standard. If money means nothing to you and you have plenty of it and you are sure that you won't be trying to sell it in the future, then money is not very important. If, however you think that you may at some point in the future need to sell your specimen and recover your money, then good and bad can be measured against whether you can get your money back and if you can turn a profit, just like any other investment. In the case of the "hydrozincite" you are not even sure which mineral you have bought, the likely hood of being able to sell the specimen for you paid for it is remote. Speaking as a mineral dealer I would be inclined to offer very little for an unknown white mineral. But if the money is not important to you, then by all means buy the specimens you want and enjoy them. How many hours would someone have to work at a minimum wage job to pay for the specimen? As the average standard of living here in the US decreases, these considerations will become more important.

10th Oct 2010 22:10 UTCKnut Eldjarn 🌟 Manager

Rock, in a previous post on this thread you wrote:

"There is a locality in Iran that produces what are almost certainly the finest hydrozincite crystals in the world. Long spear shaped prismatic terminated crystals some at least a inch long. The best specimen from this locality I have seen is in the Sorbonne."

Just for the record - you are sure you are talking about hydrozincite - and not the exceptional hydromagnesites from Soghan, Iran ?

Knut

10th Oct 2010 22:39 UTCRock Currier Expert

Knut,

Yes you are right, it should have been Hydromagnesite and not Hydrozincite. The Handbook says crystals are up to 10cm and though it does not specify the locality, they would almost have to be from the Iranian locality. The largest Hydrozincite crystals listed are 6mm and again though they do not specify where they are from, Anthony, Bideaux, Bladh & Nichols say that fine crystals are found at the Ojuela mine at Mapimi. Do you know of larger crystals from other localities?

11th Oct 2010 12:38 UTCKnut Eldjarn 🌟 Manager

Rock, as for the hydromagnesite you will find a picture I have posted here at Mindat of a specimen with large crystals from the Iranian locality with detailed locality information. It is from the John Parnau collection ex. A.L. McGuinesse obtained from Sharon Cisneros 20 years ago. You rarely see these on the market.

I have only seen hydrozincite as coatings, globular incrustations and more rarely as bladed crystals on druses. I agree that some of the best specimens came from the Ojuela mine in Mapimi, Mexico, but I have similar specimens with nice crystals to about 3 mm richly covering druses from Padaeng zinc mine in Thailand (collected in 1976). Based on locality informations and geology of this deposit, hydrozincite may have been quite common and possibly well crystallized in the earlier days of mining.

Knut

25th Oct 2010 06:50 UTCPeter Haas

I have an old specimen of hydrozincite from Sekarna, Tunisia, that was formerly in the collection of Jean Chervet. It consists of stalactites to 10 cm with completely intact tips and a well preserved concentric-layered structure that can be studied at the broken base. One side of the specimen is overgrown with a druse of off-white smithsonite. An attractive specimen (for hydrozincite, that is).

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