Artsmithite

artsmithite

cinnabar

dickite

calomel

Images

Formula: Hg1+4Al(PO4)1.74(OH)1.78
Phosphate, mercury-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 6.40 calculated
Hardness:
Streak: Off-white to cream
Colour: Colourless
Luminescence: No fluorescence in UV
Environments

Sedimentary environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments

Artsmithite is a very rare mineral; although it was approved in 2002, to date (Septemner 2022) it has been reported only from the type locality.

Localities

At the type locality, the Funderburk prospect, Pike County, Arkansas, USA, the pale grey sandstone seems to have been metamorphosed to quartzite.
The principal mercury-bearing mineral at the locality is cinnabar, which occurs as fracture fillings and as disseminated grains in the sandstone. Other mercury-bearing phases include calomel, eglestonite, native mercury, metacinnabar, montroydite and terlinguaite.
Artsmithite is very rare; only a few micromount specimens have been recovered. On the holotype specimen, artsmithite is associated with mm-sized quartz crystals that are, in part, stained with orange goethite, micropatches of cinnabar and pale orange, yellow or colourless micaceous crusts of dickite. Additional accessory minerals that have been reported include baryte, calcite, fluorapatite, galena, livingstonite, perhamite, pyrite, siderite, stibiconite and stibnite. The minerals occur primarily as fracture fillings in the sandstone, with cinnabar, quartz and dickite as the principal phases. These primary minerals are generally believed to be hydrothermal in origin. Cinnabar is considered to be the original source for the formation of secondary minerals of mercury in vuggy dickite at the prospect, and the frequent association of artsmithite with calomel further suggests this, as calomel is known to be a common alteration product of cinnabar (CM 41,721-725).

Back to Minerals