Mineralpedia Details for Walentaite

Walentaite, named for Dr. Kurt Walenta, major contributor to the mineralogy of arsenates and phosphates and a Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Suttgart in Suttgart, Germany, finds its type locality from the White Elephant mine here in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. Found in few localities, Walentaite is a rare secondary mineral, found at the White Elephant mine as an alteration product of lollingite and triphylite-lithiophilite, and at the Griffin’s Find mine in Australia in the oxidixed zone of a gold deposit.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/walentaite.pdf

Formula

H₂Ca₂Fe³⁺₆(AsO₄)₅(PO₄)₃·14H₂O 

Crystal System

Orthorhombic 

Crystal Habit

Rosette 

Cleavage

Perfect, None, None 

Luster

Vitreous (Glassy) 

Color

greenish yellow, yellow green, bright yellow 

Streak

yellow 

Class

Orthorhombic 

Hardness

3 

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Mindat

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Greenish yellow, flat lying radial sprays of acicular crystals to about 0.75mm in diameter on Quartz.