The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89764   Message #1695958
Posted By: HuwG
17-Mar-06 - 06:34 AM
Thread Name: BS: Atacamite
Subject: RE: BS: Atacamite
Well done all.

Transcribed from "Rutley's Elements of Mineralogy", 26th Edition, ed. H. H. Read FRS:

ACTINOLITE, Remolinite

Comp: Basic chloride of copper, Cu2(OH)3Cl; copper, 59.4 per cent.
Crystal System: Orthorhombic.
Common Form: Prismatic, crystals not common.
Colour: Bright deep green to blackish green.
Streak: Apple green
Lustre: Adamantine to vitreous; translucent to subtranslucent.
Hardness: 3 to 3.5.
Specific Gravity: 3.76

Tests: Heated in closed tube, gives off water and forms a grey sublimate; easily soluble in acids; on charcoal, fuses in time to metallic copper, colouring the flame azure-blue (chloride) and forming a brownish and greyish-white deposit on the charcoal which volatizes in the reducing flame, again giving an azure-blue colouration.

Occurrence: Occurs in the zone of weathering in some copper lodes, especially when this weathering has been effected under desert conditions; occurs at Botallack Mine, St. Just, Cornwall; Los Remolinos and the Atacama Desert, South America; and Burra Mine, South Australia.