Скачать или смотреть Paraatacamite, Boleo, Baja California, Mexico

Paratacamite, Boleo, Baja California, Mexico
A beautiful, sub-spherical, sparkly, concretion-like aggregation of teal green microcrystals with vitreous luster. This is a very interesting specimen in that the original Herb Obodda label identified it as Clinoclase. In researching the provenance, however, and with the assistance of the very knowledgeable Site Admins at FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, it is the prevailing consensus that Clinoclase is not likely to occur in the Boleo district given the absence of Arsenic in the geochemical profile. It has been determined that the piece is most likely Atacamite, or more precisely, Paratacamite. To gather additional information, I contacted the NMNH (Smithsonian) Division of Mineralogy and received the following reply:
“Mr. French,
Your e-mail of 30 October, concerning Mexican atacamite, has been forwarded to me for reply. Checking Wilson, I. V. and V. S. Rocha (1955. Geology and Ore deposits of the Boleo copper district Baja California, Mexico. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 273), atacamite is listed (page 71) as being found in Boléo. However, further work on Boléo specimens, cited in Bariand, P., et al. (1998. Mexico Special Issue I. Boléo. The Mineralogical Record. 29:1:1-49), note that the species is in fact paratacamite (page 42). Your inquiry prompted me to check our collection, and sure enough we five specimens from Boléo listed as atacamite, one of them looks exactly like your specimens. Unfortunately for you, none of our specimens nor the references cited above, give exact mine localities. As a side note, the Obodda label is a rarity on its own.
I hope this information is of assistance to you. Also, thank you for calling attention to this as I can now correct the labels and database for our specimens.
Paul W. Pohwat
Collection Manager (Minerals)
Division of Mineralogy
National Museum of Natural History
(Smithsonian)

Dimensions: 18 x 15 x 14 mm
Mindat lists the locality as Amelia Mine, Arroyo de la Soledad, Boleo District, Santa Rosalía, Mulegé Municipality, Baja California Sur, Mexico