Baratti (slag locality), Piombino, Livorno Province, Tuscany, Italy

Etruscan metallurgical slags, tens of meters thick in some places, extend to the coastline in the Gulf of Baratti. The slags altered by sea water reveal many interesting Pb-Cu alteration minerals, similar to the Laurion (Greece) ones.

NB: A natural phase with chemical formula Pb2Fe3+Cl3(OH)4·H2O (Pasero et al., 1997) (Unnamed (Pb-Fe Chloride Hydroxide Hydrate)) was sampled on the Baratti beach. The proposal of definition of the new mineral was rejected by the IMA CNMMN, due to its anthropogenic origin. Therefore the phase, which has the acronym PFC due to the chemical formula, cannot be considered a mineral species. However, we think it useful to make a short mention of that phase here, since it could have been another Italian type mineral, if only it was discovered a few time before. In fact the definition of the nature of anthropogenic material, and the relevant guidelines, were set up by CNMMN in 1995 (Nickel, 1995). Collectors know the phase as "barattiite" ("barattite" is a synonym). Relevant references are
• Nickel, E.H. (1995): Definition of a mineral. European Journal of Mineralogy, 7, 1213-1215.
• Ciriotti, M.E., Faccio, L., Pasero, M. (2004): Italian Type Minerals. Felici Editore, Pisa, CD-ROM.

References:
- Franzini M., Perchiazzi N., Bartoli M. L., Chiappino L., 1992. Baratti (LI): una nuova località mineralogica italiana analoga al Laurion. Riv. Miner. Ital., 1-2: 1-14; 67-75.
- Franzini M., Perchiazzi N., 1992. I minerali delle scorie ferrifere etrusche di Baratti (Livorno). Atti Soc. Tosc. Sci. Nat., Mem., Serie A, 99, 43-77.
- Cerutti, G., Preite, D. (1995): Mineralien der Etruskerschlacken von Baratti/Toskana. Lapis, 20(4), 13-18; 50. (in German)
- Pasero, M., Perchiazzi, N., Bigi, S., Franzini, M., Merlino, S. (1997): Pb2Fe3+Cl3(OH)4·H2O, a newly discovered natural phase from Tuscany, Italy: physico-chemical data, crystal structure, and OD character. European Journal of Mineralogy, 9, 43-51.
- Lapaire, J. & Bonifazi, M. (1997): Un nouveau minéral des scories étrusques de Baratti (Italie). Minéraux et Fossiles, Le Guide du Collectionneur, 23(257), 12-15.

- http://www.comune.pisa.it/apsn/Articoli/Scorie/Scorie.html
- http://www.comune.pisa.it/apsn/Articoli/Scorie/Baratti.htm