Description
Although the Tsumeb mine has been closed since 1996, specimens from this locality still circulate on the market in great numbers. Despite the abundance of material available, this is a type of specimen not often encountered: light-yellow, translucent smithsonite crystals with a scalenohedral habit growing almost parallelly and trapping, or semi-trapping, along their growth direction several botryoidal aggregates of a secondary mineral, most likely hematite. An unusual and elegant example from this classic and historic mineral locality.
LOCATION
Namibia, Tsumeb
SIZE
2.4 cm
WEIGHT
3 g