Steinmetzite, Zn2Fe3 (PO4)2(OH)·3H2O, a new mineral formed from alteration of phosphophyllite at the Hagendorf Süd pegmatite, Bavaria

Abstract

Steinmetzite, ideally Zn2Fe3+(PO4)2(OH)·3H2O, is a new mineral from the Hagendorf-Süd pegmatite, Hagendorf, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Steinmetzite was found in a highly oxidized zone of the Cornelia mine at Hagendorf-Süd. It has formed by alteration of phosphophyllite, involving oxidation of the iron and some replacement of Zn by Fe. Steinmetzite lamellae co-exist with an amorphous Fe-rich phosphate in pseudomorphed phosphophyllite crystals. The lamellae are only a few μm thick and with maximum dimension ∼50 μm. The phosphophyllite pseudomorphs have a milky opaque appearance, often with a glazed yellow to orange weathering rind and with lengths ranging from sub-mm to 1 cm. Associated mine..