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Formula: Cu5(PO4)2(OH)4
Anhydrous phosphate containing hydroxyl, monoclinic paramorph of
triclinic ludjibaite and monoclinic
pseudomalachite
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 4.35 calculated
Hardness: 3½
Colour: Dark green
Environments
Localities
At Brown's Prospect, Rum Jungle, Batchelor, Coomalie Shire, Northern Territory, Australia, reichenbachite has
been found with pseudomalachite
(Dana).
The Mount Glorious Mine, Cloncurry, Cloncurry Shire, Queensland, Australia, consists of a small open cut in ferruginous
gossan and quartzite
associated with a massive central quartz vein. This vein has yielded unusual
specimens of pseudomalachite, consisting of sheaves of parallel crystals
forming botryoidal masses about 1 cm across, commonly on a matrix of pale blue
chrysocolla. One such specimen, 10 cm wide, has a thin green layer below the
chrysocolla that contains reichenbachite, and possibly also
pseudomalachite. Ludjibaite
has not been found at Mount Glorious
(AJM 23.1.37)
At the type locality, Point 8.0, Borstein, Reichenbach, Lautertal, Bergstraße, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany,
reichenbachite is a rare secondary mineral in the
oxidised zone of hydrothermal copper deposits. It occurs in a silicified
baryte vein associated with quartz,
bayldonite, mimetite,
malachite, duftite,
goethite and especially
pseudomalachite
(AM 72.404-408, HOM, Dana).
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