Leiteite

specimen number:
2133406

location:
Tsumeb Mine, Otjikoto, Namibia

description:
A choice loose crystallized grouping of this rare mineral. In great condition.

The Tsumeb mine, located in the Otavi Mountain Land of northern Namibia, was a celebrated underground base metal operation renowned for its complex polymetallic deposit. Geologically, the orebody formed a steeply dipping, sub-vertical pipe-like structure hosted within the Neoproterozoic limestones and dolomites of the Otavi Group. The core of this pipe structure was filled with feldspar-rich sandstone breccia that underwent intense hydrothermal mineralization, creating massive concentrations of primary copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, and germanium sulfides. Due to an extensive internal drainage system facilitated by deep karstification, oxidizing groundwaters penetrated more than a kilometer below the surface, developing three distinct, deeply buried oxidation zones. Although local tribesmen had extracted surface copper ores for generations, formalized commercial mining commenced in 1897 under German administration and continued with various corporate restructurings until the economic exhaustion of the deep reserves forced the permanent closure of the mine in 1996.

Leiteite is a rare zinc arsenite mineral that crystallizes in the monoclinic system, forming transparent to translucent, cleavable masses or distinct prismatic crystals with pyramidal terminations. Geologically, it forms as a secondary mineral within the deep, oxygen-deficient secondary oxidation zones of polymetallic deposits where arsenic exists in an intermediate oxidation state under specific low-oxygen conditions. The mineral ranges in color from white and cream to pale brown or light pink, exhibiting a highly pearly luster along its perfect cleavage faces, which are flexible and sectile. First recognized in the early 1970s on a specimen originating from the deep underground levels of the Tsumeb mine, leiteite occurred in association with other rare arsenate and arsenite species, with subsequent major discoveries in the deeper pockets providing spectacular specimens consisting of elongated crystals.

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