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Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Cerusite is a lead carbonate. It is formed on the upper oxidation zones of the lead deposits. It is associated with galena, anglesite and other lead and copper minerals.
Cerusite show variable: massive, crystals prismatic, bipyramidal, pseudo-hexagonal, and are often twinned (star twin). Cerusite is mainly colourless with white-grayish, but it can take a green or blue colour if it contains copper impurities. Its density is relatively high and it has a characteristic luster.
Cerusite is a lead ore in a number of deposits. Some deposits produced remarkable crystals: Tsumeb in Namibia (crystals measuring up to 60 cm), Mibladen in Morocco, the Sanda mine in the area of Mindouli in Congo (twinned crystals). In France: the mine of Les Farges in Corrèze, the Rossignol mine near Chaillac in Indre and close of Saint-Pons in the Alpes de Haute Provence.
The place of conservation of the type of this species is not known.
HISTORY : Name derived from Latin "cerussa" meaning white of lead, Name given by Pline to the synthetic lead carbonate
Species first described in 1845 by Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger (1795-1871), Austrian geologist and mineralogist
Type-locality: Vicentin, Italy
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Pb CO3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Colorless, white, yellow pale, smoky to gray black
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Adamantine
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGIE : Tabular crystals, pseudo-hexagonal, combined. Prismatic aggregates
HARDNESS : 3,0-3,5
CHEMICAL CLASS: 6,577
DENSITY : V - Carbonates, nitrates and borates
GROUP : Aragonite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.04-40
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.15
