Hemimorphite

Scientific Name: Sorosilicate mineral

Group: Silicates – sorosilicates

Chemical composition: Zn4Si2O7(OH)2-H2O

Colors: Colorless, white, yellow, blue or green

Hardness: 4.5 to 5

Formation: Orthorhombic crystal; Asymmetric, prismatic, tabular or botryodal form

Principal Sources: Algeria, Namibia, Germany, Mexico, Spain, US

Special Notes: It is named hemimorphite because of the hemimorph development of its crystals. This unusual form, which is typical of only a few minerals, means that the crystals are terminated by dissimilar faces. Hemimorphite most commonly forms crystalline crusts and layers, also massive, granular, rounded and reniform aggregates, concentrically striated, or finely needle-shaped, fibrous or stalactitic, and rarely fan-shaped clusters of crystals. Hemimorphite and Smithsonite, with which it was often confsed, are both ores of zinc and lead.