Mimetite

A lead arsenate forming yellow-orange hexagonal barrels or rounded 'campylite' crystals.

Mimetite specimen — Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify mimetite

Yellow-orange six-sided barrels.
Very heavy.
Resinous luster.

Often confused with

Pyromorphite
Pyromorphite is usually green.
Compare side by side
Vanadinite
Vanadinite is red-orange with sharp hexagonal prisms.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Tsumeb, Namibia
Guangxi, China
Chihuahua, Mexico
Cumbria, England

Uses

Collector specimens; minor lead ore.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling. Contains lead and arsenic.

Did you know?

Its name means 'imitator', because it looks so much like pyromorphite.

Think you could spot it from a blurry close-up?

Play today's Rocksday