Atelestite

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Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?

Below are some preliminary notes I have made about Atelestite. This entry and thread has been made as a place holder for information that you will hopefully contribute about Atelestite. It should be in no way be thought of as a claim I have staked out to write about this mineral, and in fact is an invitation for someone to step forward and create the article about this mineral. If you are so inclined and have questions about the format that such an article should have, go the The welcome topic at the top of the Best Minerals forum and read what has been posted there. Also take a look at some of the more mature articles that have already been written like Rhodochrosite, Adamite, Millerite etc. You will need also to pick out other images of Atelestite that will go into the article.




Atelestite
Bi₈[O₅(OH)₅|(AsO₄)₃] Monoclinic



Atelestite has been found at a number of localities world wide, almost always as micro crystals. I don't think any crystals have been found that exceed a cm. Mindat lists 35 localities (2009), many of them in Germany and most crystals do not exceed a mm or two.


Atelestite
Germany
Baden-Württemberg, Black Forest, Freudenstadt, Dorothea Mine




Atelestite
Germany
Baden-Württemberg, Black Forest, Schenkenzell, Wittichen, Gnade Gottes Mine

Atelestite on Mixite, FOV1mm	© Stephan Wolfsried

The Ganade Gotten Mine at Wittichen has also produced nice micromounts of rhagite (Atelestite). These are balls or sprays of needle-shaped xls. The color is a waxy greenish yellow to yellow. Typically the specimens have been collected from the dump near the Schmiedestollen Adit of the Gnade Gottes Mine. The associated minerals are usually quartz, mixite, bismuth and rarely walpurgite.
[Sebastian Möller 2009]


Atelestite
Germany
Saxony, Erzgebirge, Schneeberg District, Schneeberg



The specimen above is in the British Museum, but undoubtedly there are better ones in Germany. It is however the best one I have seen. It is from Schneeberg. You can even see the little yellow tufts of prismatic crystals growing on what may be bismuth. About 2 mm is about as good as it gets. What is it worth? I have never seen a good one for sale and I would pay several hundred dollars for it, but I am a cheapskate and some other younger collector with fire in his belly would certainly a lot more for it. However It is not likely that the British Museum of Natural History would be interested in letting it go. Upon reflection however, perhaps the curator might like a night or two on the town with a couple of gorgeous young ladies and no one would ever notice the absence of this specimen. What do you think? The type material is fro the Neuhilfe Mine, Schneeberg (Breithaupt (1832)). Atelestite usually forms green or yellow waxy balls (in Germany formerly called Rhagite) or small (under one mm) sharp xls, usually colorless or light green/yellow.
[Rock Currier & Sebastian Möller 2009]



Atelestite
Greece
Attikí (Attica; Attika) Prefecture, Lavrion District Mines, Lavrion (Laurion; Laurium) District, Agios Konstantinos [St Constantine] (Kamariza), Kamariza Mines, Hilarion Mine (Hilarion adit; Kamariza Mine No. 50)

Micro Atelestite on green Mixite, FOV 2.5mm	© Elmar Lackner

Good Atelestite xls, by worldwide standards, have also been found in the Lavrion distr., Attica, Greece. In the lower level of the Hilarion Mine, a Bi-association was discovered in the late 90's, where Atelestite occurs as nice lemon-yellow (sometimes light greenish-yellow) free-standing thin prismatic or spear-shaped xls to about 2mm, often in parallel groups, in a very beautiful direct association with blue-green Mixite tufts (which also represent some of the best of the species wordwide) and small xls of emerald-green transparent Cuproadamite. Matrix is typically a friable earthy vuggy yellow-brown limonite with milky crudely crystalline to granular Quartz.
[Lefteris Rantos 2009]


Atelestite
United States
Utah, Tooele County, Deep Creek Mts, Gold Hill District (Clifton District), Gold Hill, Gold Hill Mine (Western Utah Mine)



The mine has produced micro crystals of Atelestite.



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Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2011 12:24PM by Rock Currier.

Which curator? Certainly not a Keeper.

Maybe especially the keeper!.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Good on you, I didn't think anyone would catch the pun.

Hello,

Yes, Schneeberg is a very good locality (and type locality) for Atelestite. The type material is fro the Neuhilfe Mine, Schneeberg (Breithaupt (1832)). Atelestite usually forms green or yellow waxy balls (in Germany formerly called Rhagite) or small (under one mm) sharp xls, usually colorless or light green/yellow.

Wittichen, Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg has also delivered nice micromounts of rhagite or sprays of needle-shaped xls. Colour is a waxy greenish yellow to yellow. Typically the mineral stems from the dump of the Schmiedestollen Adit, Gnade Gottes Mine. Usually quartz, mixite, bismuth and rarely walpurgite are the paragenesis.

Regards,
Sebastian Möller

Hi,

Good Atelestite xls, by worldwide standards, have also been found in the Lavrion distr., Attica, Greece.
In the lower level of the Hilarion Mine, in Agios Konstantinos (Kamariza) a Bi-association was discovered in the late 90's, where Atelestite occurs as nice lemon-yellow (sometimes light greenish-yellow) free-standing thin prismatic or spear-shaped xls to about 2mm, often in parallel groups, in a very beautiful direct association with blue-green Mixite tufts (which also represent some of the best of the species wordwide) and small xls of emerald-green transparent Cuproadamite. Matrix is typically a friable earthy vuggy yellow-brown limonite with milky crudely crystalline to granular Quartz.

Lefteris.

Sebastian and Lefteris,
Thank you both for your contributions to the article on this mineral. You have helped make it a better article.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

[www.mindat.org]

Good crystals (the best from black forest I think) come from Dorothea mine, Freudenstadt.

Stephan

Stephen, excellent suggestion. Can you tell us something about the mine and the Atelestite specimens it produces? For instance what are the white crystals that they are growing on?

You caused me to get busy and vevamp the article a bit, upgrade the lead in photo which was done before when I didn't know as much about Photoshop as I do now and to make it pretty a la Harjo.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Here is one of those that Lefteris mentioned!


Branko

Yes, I had to add that to the article. It was too good to pass up.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.