Crocoite with Philipsbornite

specimen number:
2292270

location:
Red Lead Mine, Dundas, Tasmania, Australia

description:

Brilliant orange red needlelike crystals of crocoite across the top of matrix with deep yellowish orange coatings of philipsbornite. typical of these slight damage present, this still quite nice. Good combination piece.

The Red Lead mine, located in the Dundas mineral field of western Tasmania, Australia, is a historic underground operation renowned for producing fine crocoite and secondary lead mineral specimens. Geologically, the deposit sits within a highly fractured zone where hydrothermal fluids interacted with Cambrian serpentinite and overlying sedimentary rocks, causing the deep oxidation of primary galena ore bodies into vibrant lead chromate structures. Underground mining for silver and lead at the site initially began around 1890 during the Western Tasmanian mining boom, but operations proved economically marginal and ceased commercial ore production by the early twentieth century. Since the 1970s, the mine has been intermittently worked under specialized private leases exclusively for specimen mining, remaining active well into the 2020s to extract collector-grade minerals from its preserved gossan pockets.

Philipsbornite is a notable secondary arsenate mineral that belongs to the alunitic subgroup of the dussertite group. It was originally discovered and described as a new mineral species in 1982 using type material collected from the oxidized zone of the Red Lead mine in Dundas, Tasmania. Geologically, it forms as a rare alteration product within the complex gossan environment, where arsenic-bearing solutions interact with lead and aluminum under highly oxidizing conditions. The mineral typically occurs as microscopic, fine-grained crystalline crusts or glassy coatings that exhibit a distinct apple-green to yellowish-green coloration, often found intimately associated with crocoite.

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