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Identity HelpSmithsonite from Adis Abeba, Ethiopia??

5th May 2018 19:01 UTCHarry Zondervan

This is a nice piece I think but I'm not sure what it is and what is it origin.

It was sold to me as Smithsonite from Adis Abeba, Ethiopia a long time ago.

This seems not correct to me. Can't find anything in books, literature or the internet about Smithsonite at Adis Abeba.

Anyone an idea of the mineral and the origin? The matrix is basalt like.

5th May 2018 22:07 UTCBecky Coulson 🌟 Expert

Harry, I do not know if this is smithsonite (or where it is from), but zinc is mined in Eritrea, which was formerly part of Ethiopia.

5th May 2018 22:33 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

Something tells me that isn't natural......

5th May 2018 22:43 UTCPeter Slootweg 🌟

They have been sold as calcite from Ethiopia. I have a similair specimen and i believe it's just that. The occurence on basalt makes smithsonite unlikely.

5th May 2018 23:42 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

I once collected heulandite in basalt vugs on the highway going west from Addis Ababa, but that was quite far out of the city, closer to Lekemti.

On your photo I seem to be seeing a gap between the edge of the calcite hemispheres and the basalt vug wall/matrix? Is that perhaps why some say it looks created? Glued on? Or is that just an illusion? Perhaps the vug was originally lined with a thin layer of clay (Saponite is common as a vug lining in basalt), and that has been mostly washed away, leaving the younger calcite standing out like that?

6th May 2018 10:40 UTCHarry Zondervan

Thanks you all. There is no gap between the hemispheres and the basalt. It's an illusion on the picture because of the reflection of the hemispheres.

So Calcite is the most likely, and to the west of Addis Ababa minerals are found.

You helped me a lot.