Rodalquilarite

Rodalquilarite is a rare iron tellurite chloride mineral with formula H₃Fe³⁺₂(Te⁴⁺O₃)₄Cl^[1] or Fe₂(TeO₂OH)₃(TeO₃)Cl.^[2] Rodalquilarite crystallizes in the triclinic system and typically occurs as stout green prisms and encrustations.

Rodalquilarite
Rodalquilarite crystals from a cavity in alunite
General
Category	Tellurite mineral
Formula (repeating unit)	H3Fe3+2(Te4+O3)4Cl
Strunz classification	4.JL.05
Crystal system	Triclinic
Crystal class	Pinacoidal (1) (same H-M symbol)
Space group	P1
Unit cell	a = 8.95 Å, b = 5.09 Å c = 6.63 Å; α = 103.17° β = 107.08°, γ = 77.87°; Z = 1
Identification
Color	Emerald- to grass-green
Crystal habit	Crusts of stout crystals
Cleavage	One good cleavage plane
Tenacity	Very brittle
Mohs scale hardness	2 - 3
Luster	Greasy
Streak	Greenish yellow
Diaphaneity	Semitransparent
Specific gravity	4.97 - 5.15
Optical properties	Biaxial (-)
Refractive index	nα = 2.100 nγ = 2.200
Birefringence	δ = 0.100
2V angle	38°
References	[1][2][3]

Discovery and occurrenceEdit

Green rodalquilarite crystals in a vug in pink alunite from Chile

Rodalquilarite was first described in 1968 for an occurrence in the Rodalquilar gold deposit of Almeria, Spain and was named for the discovery locality. It has also been reported from the Wendy open pit mine, El Indio-Tambo district, Coquimbo Region of Chile and the mines of Tombstone, Arizona.^[1] It is found in the oxidized zone of tellurium-bearing gold deposits. It occurs associated with emmonsite, native gold, alunite, jarosite, quartz, native tellurium, mackayite and sonoraite. 

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article  Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.