Atacamite

Cave Name:

Jingemia Cave, Western Australia, Australia

Speleothems:

Frequency: Rare

Other geologic settings:

An oxidation product of other copper minerals, especially under arid, saline
conditions
in fumarolic deposits
an alteration of bronze and copper objects of antiquity

First description of cave occurrence:

Bridge, P.J., Pryce, M.W., Clarke, R.M. & Costello, M.B. 1978. Sampleite from Jingemia Cave, Western Australia. Mineralogical Magazin 42: 369-371

First description of non-cave occurrence:

Blumenbach, J.F. 1797. V. Kupfergeschlecht. Atacamit, in Handbuch der Naturgeschichte (Johann Christian Dieterich Göttingen): 655-660

Other cave locations & References:

Mbobo Mkulu Cave, South Africa - Martini, J.E.J. 1980. Mbobomkulite, hydrombobomkulite and nickelaluminite, new minerals from Mbobo Mkulu Cave, Eastern Transvaal. Annals of the Geological Survey of South Africa 14(2): 1-10

Latitude: 30°15'47''S

Longitude: 116°0'7''E

Type of rock:

partially silicified proterozoic dolomite intruded by dolerite dykes
the cave forms a 61 metre diameter collapsed doline with 26 metre high cliffs. At one point along the cliffs is a large but shallow cave

IMA status: Approved

Group: Halides

Chemical formula:
[According to the official IMA-CNMNC List of Mineral Names (http://nrmima.nrm.se/imalist.htm)]

Cu₂Cl(OH)₃

Deposition and stability:

the chlorine is probably derived from bat guano, while the copper was supplied by the cooper sulphides (a small chalcopyrite vein in the cliff wall near the cave) (Jingemia Cave)
the chlorine is probably derived from bat guano and/or meteoric water, and the copper is derived from the black shale in the roof rock s which contain disseminated sulfides (Mbobo Mkulu Cave)

Mineral assemblage:

Crystal system:

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