Unique Cacoxenite Crystals

Unique Cacoxenite Crystals. Steve Sorrell’s Photo

Cacoxenite

Underwater view of the Great Barrier Reef? No. Cacoxenite from underground in a German mine.

Locality: Leonie I Mine (Leonie Mine; Alte Leonie Mine), Auerbach, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany

Cacoxenite is secondary mineral found in oxidised zones of phosphatic magnetite deposits, in novaculites, in phosphate-rich pegmatites, and rarely in iron-rich sediments and soils. The name comes from the Greek κăκός for “bad” or “evil” and ξένος for “guest” because the phosphorus content of cacoxenite lessens the quality of iron smelted from ore containing it.

Often times, it forms as fuzzy brownish yellow, brown, yellow, or gold radiated tufts or strands. It may also appear as reddish orange or greenish yellow. The cacoxenite is occasionally referred to cacoxene or cacoxitite.