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Formula: Pb2(Te4+O3)(SO4)
Sulphate of lead and tellurium
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 6.385 calculated
Hardness: 2½
Streak: White
Colour: Beige, colourless
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under long or short wave UV
Solubility: At room temperature, very slowly soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, and rapidly soluble in concentrated
hydrochloric acid
Environments
Adanite is a relatively new mineral approved in 2019.
Localities
At the Joe mine, Tombstone Mining District, Cochise County, Arizona, USA, adanite has been confirmed in a
specimen that was originally labelled only as frohbergite. On this
specimen, adanite occurs as white massive crystalline aggregates on small euhedral
jarosite crystals that coat the surface of the matrix.
Frohbergite is found in veins in the matrix, and
rodalquilarite is also found on the specimen. Adanite is an
oxidation-zone mineral
(CM 58.3.403-410).
The Delamar mine, Delamar Mining District, Lincoln County, Nevada, USA. The mines
in this district principally exploited epithermal fissure veins composed mainly of
quartz and containing native gold, native
silver, pyrite,
chalcopyrite, bornite,
chalcocite, tetrahedrite,
tennantite, sphalerite and
galena, as well as baryte and
unidentified tellurides.
A wide variety of secondary minerals has been collected from several mine dumps, including numerous
tellurium oxysalts such as adanite,
bairdite, burckhardtite,
carlfriesite, choloalite,
emmonsite, eztlite,
fairbankite,
frankhawthorneite, jensenite,
khinite, kinichilite,
kuksite, leisingite,
mcalpineite, mojaveite,
mullerite, northstarite,
paratimroseite, poughite,
quetzalcoatlite,
rodalquilarite, spiroffite,
teineite, tellurite,
tlapallite, utahite,
xocolatlite, xocomecatlite,
matthiasweilite
and possibly zemannite. Other minerals include native
tellurium, altaite, and likely
hessite.
(CM 60.805-814).
At the type locality, the North Star Mine, Mammoth, Tintic Mining District, Juab County, Utah, USA, the mine exploited
a polymetallic
gold-silver-copper-lead
vein deposit emplaced in contact-metamorphosed
dolostone and was the largest producer of
gold in the Tintic district. The principal ore minerals were
galena, cerussite and
enargite, and the prominent gangue
minerals were quartz and baryte. A wide
variety of oxidation-zone minerals has been collected from the mine dumps. The adanite is known from only one
small specimen. It occurs in a vug in massive
quartz-baryte-enargite-pyrite.
Other secondary minerals found in association with
adanite are anglesite,
azurite, chrysocolla,
fluorapatite, northstarite,
plumbogummite, tellurite,
zincospiroffite, and an unidentified poorly crystalline
copper-tellurite. Adanite is
an oxidation-zone mineral, forming beige coloured wedge-shaped blades up to about 1 mm in length
(CM 58.3.403-410).
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