Detailed information
Dimensions
32 x 31 x 26
mm
Weight
31 g
Locality
Tsumeb Mine Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region Namibia
Condition
No recorded repairs
Extremely rare, and yet remarkably colourful. Betpakdalite was once a single species - a complex heteropolymolybdate - but this has recently morphed into five visually similar, but chemically distinct species. The original Betpakdalite species, named after the Betpakdala Desert in Kazakhstan that includes the Type Locality, is now reclassified as Betpakdalite-CaCa with a new species Betpakdalite-CaMg identified on specimens from Tsumeb mine in Namibia. Betpakdalite-CaCa has also been confirmed at Tsumeb mine and other chemical variants may also turn up with improved access to analytical facilities. This exceptionally rich miniature Betpakdalite Group specimen from Tsumeb mine has not been analysed recently but was recorded as Betpakdalite in the Kessler Collection from which it comes. The Betpakdalite Group phase forms an extensive (3 x 3 cm) coverage of yellow-orange microcrystalline coating upon an unidentified dark grey sulphide-bearing matrix. This is certainly one of the rarer species known from Tsumeb, but is also world-class in terms of its overall coverage of this exotic phase.
