Alabandite with Calcite

  • Updated
    07/12/22
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Alabandite with calcite D.41816 Click to enlarge image
Alabandite with calcite . No. 18 level, 2600 ft (792.5 m), Zinc Corporation Mine, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. 11 x 29 x 23 cm. Registered 1967, D.41816. Image: Stuart Humphreys
© Australian Museum

Alabandite is a rare manganese sulphide mineral found in only a few locations in the world, but Broken Hill has produced some of the best and largest examples. This large specimen has arborescent (branching) alabandite crystals coated with an alteration mineral, the manganese oxide mineral hausmannite, with contrasting white ‘dog-tooth’ calcite crystals. Its name comes from ‘Alabanda’, a city in the ancient region of Caria in Asia Minor.

Specimen details

  • Origin

    No. 18 level, 2600 ft (792.5 m), Zinc Corporation Mine, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia

  • Size

    11 x 29 x 23 cm

  • Date

    Registered 1967

  • Collection number

    D.41816

This specimen was acquired through an exchange with former Broken Hill miner Richard ‘Dick’ Cannon in 1965.

Alabandite

Zinc Corporation Mine, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. 12 x 7 x 7.6 cm. D.50046. Albert Chapman Collection.

Alabandite D.50046
Zinc Corporation Mine, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. 12 x 7 x 7.6 cm. D.50046. Albert Chapman Collection. Image: Ric Bolzan
© Australian Museum

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