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Bindheimite Mineral Facts:

Chemical Formula: Pb₂Sb₂O₆(O,OH)
Copper Lead Antimony Oxide-Hydroxide.  Named for Johann Jacob Bindheim  who first identified the mineral.

Colors: Yellow, Greenish yellow, Green, Brownish white, Grayish white.

Hardness: 4 to 5   

Density: 7.5
May be as low as 4.6 due to porous and earthy nature as well as water of hydration in formula.

Cleavage: None. 

Crystallography: Isometric
Commonly found in earthy masses or crusts. Sometimes in psudomorphs after lead-antimony minerals. May be earthy to sometimes fibrous to even waxy in the least porous specimens.

Luster:. Earthy to resinous luster.

Optics: (Refractive Index):  = 1.72
Most specimens are opaque.

Yellow and green Bindheimite, Potosi Mine Candelaria silver district, Mineral Co. Nevada

Composition, Structure and Associated Minerals:
Bindheimite is found as a secondary mineral in deposits in antimony and lead ores. Bindheimite is a surface alteration product caused by the weathering and oxidation of lead and antimony sulfides such as jamesonite, and boulangerite. At times it forms pseudomorphs these minerals, replacing them without to much distortion of the outward appearance of the crystals. Most commonly, bindeimite occurs as earthy cryptocrystalline masses or crusts .The chemical composition of bindheimite is quite variable. Varieties containing significant silver, copper, calcium and bismuth have been identified, and some have suggested that a range of complete substitution in composition is possible.

Bindheimite is widely distributed mineral, but only rarely does it constitute one of the principal ore minerals. Exceptions to this are the Arabia and Candelaria Districts of Nevada where it is one of the principal ores. It typically occurs in small amounts in the oxidized zone of antimony and lead deposits, often in locations where carbonates are present in the wall rocks. Associated gangue minerals include barite, hematite, quartz, calcite, limonite, and barite. Associated lead and silver ore minerals include cerussite, plumbojarosite, and malachite. Small amounts of unoxidized sulfide minerals, including galena, jamesonite, tetrahedrite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite are also common.

Identification and Diagnostics
Bindheimite gives positive tests for both lead and antimony, it is soluble with difficulty in hydrochloric acid.  It is recognized by the presence of both antimony and lead, its color, earthy form and its secondary mineral associations.

Localities
Known localities include Otjimboyo East, Karibib, Namibia, Hamman N’bail, Qacentina (Constantine) in Algeria and Slata, Tunisia; at Camerata Cornello, Val Brembana, and at Gorno, Val Seriana, Lombardy in Italy, at Oberzeiring, Styria and Huttenberg, Carinthia in Austria; Nerchinsk, Siberia, Russia; the Chichibu mine, Saitama Prefecture, Japan; at Machacamaraca, Potosi, Bolivia; the Ojuela mine, Mapim´ı, Durango, Mexico; From Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia;  In the Bodannon mine and Wheal Boys, St. Endellion, the Wadebridge district, and elsewhere in Cornwall, and at Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria, England.

In the US, in the state of Nevada at the Montezuma and other mines, Arabia district, Pershing Co., the Potosi mine, Candelaria district, Garfield district, both in Mineral County. It has been found in the Coeur d’Alene district, Shoshone Co., Idaho; at in several mines in the Tintic district, Juab Co., and the Horn Silver mine, San Francisco district, Beaver Co., Utah. It has been mined at Cerro Gordo, Inyo Co., and San Bernardino County, California. Also in Cochise and Pima Counties, Arizona and at the Black Hills of South Dakota.

It is a very minor ore of antimony, lead and silver (which it often contains). It is valued more highly as a mineral specimen because it makes for interesting psudomorph specimens that are valued by mineral collectors.

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Nevada Outback Gems