Khinite

Rare orthotellurate mineral

Khinite

Dark green Khinite crystals from the type locality (Bird Nest Drift, San Bernardino County, California, United States of America).

General
Category| Tellurate minerals
Formula| PbCu3TeO6(OH)2
IMA symbol| Khn[1]
Strunz classification| 4.FD.30
Dana classification| 33.1.3.1
Crystal system| Orthorhombic
Unit cell| Khinite-4O:
a = 5.740 Å,
b = 9.983 Å,
c = 23.960 Å, Z = 8
Khinite-3T (parakhinite):
a = 5.753 Å,
c = 17.958 Å, Z = 3
Identification
Color| Dark green – Bottle green
Crystal habit| Dipyramidal or curved crystals
Cleavage| {001} fair
Tenacity| Brittle
Mohs scale hardness| 3.5
Luster| Vitreous
Streak| Green
Diaphaneity| Semitransparent
Specific gravity| 6.5–7.0 (measured) 6.69 (calculated)
Optical properties| Biaxial (+) (khinite) Uniaxial (−) (parakhinite)
Birefringence| δ = 0.055
Pleochroism| Yellow green – emerald green
2V angle| 20o
Ultraviolet fluorescence| None
Fusibility| Fuses readily to a brown slag
Solubility| Soluble in cold acids
Common impurities| Ca
References| [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Khinite is a rare orthotellurate mineral with the formula Pb2+Cu2+3TeO6(OH)2.[2][3][4] It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and has a bottle-green colour. It is often found as dipyramidal, curved or corroded crystals no more than 0.15 mm in size.[5] The tetragonal dimorph of khinite is called parakhinite.

## Occurrence and name

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Both khinite and parakhinite were first identified in 1978 in the Old Guard Mine (Royal Guard Mine), Tombstone District, Cochise County, Arizona, US They were named after Ba-Saw Khin, a Burmese-American mineralogist.[2] They are often found together with tenorite, quetzalcoatlite, quartz, gold, dugganite, chrysocolla, chlorargyrite, bromargyrite, xocomecatlite, and tlapallite.[2][5] Khinite and parakhinite are found in multiple mines across Mexico and the USA.

## Parakhinite

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Parakhinite crystallizes in the tetragonal system. Khinite and parakhinite are also called khinite-4O and khinite-3T, respectively. Khinite and parakhinite are identical in colour and many other properties, like reactivity. They do differ in optical properties: Khinite is biaxial (+), while parakhinite is uniaxial (−). They also have different unit cells.[2][4][6][7]

## References

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1. ^ Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320\. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.43. S2CID 235729616.
2. ^ a b c d "Khinite: Khinite mineral information and data". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
3. ^ Barthelmy, Dave. "Khinite Mineral Data". www.webmineral.com. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
4. ^ a b Williams, S.A. (1978). "Khinite, parakhinite, and dugganite, three new tellurates from Tombstone. Arizona" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 63: 1016–1019.
5. ^ a b "Handbook of mineralogy, Khinite" (PDF).
6. ^ Cooper, M. A.; Hawthorne, F. C.; Back, M. E. (2008). "The crystal structure of khinite and polytypism in khinite and parakhinite". Mineralogical Magazine. 72 (3): 763–770\. Bibcode:2008MinM...72..763C. doi:10.1180/minmag.2008.072.3.763. S2CID 140537204.
7. ^ Hawthorne, F. C.; Cooper, M. A.; Back, M. E. (2009). "Khinite-4O [= Khinite] and Khinite-3T [= Parakhinite]". The Canadian Mineralogist. 47 (2): 473–476\. Bibcode:2009CaMin..47..473H. doi:10.3749/canmin.47.2.473.

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Selenites, selenates, tellurites, and tellurates

Hey classification (3rd edition) 28

Selenites 28.1|

Ahlfeldite Chalcomenite Clinochalcomenite Cobaltomenite Demesmaekerite Derriksite Francisite Guilleminite Haynesite Mandarinoite Marthozite Molybdomenite Sofiite

Selenates 28.2|

Olsacherite Schmiederite

Tellurites 28.3|

Balyakinite Blakeite Cesbronite Chekhovichite Choloalite Cliffordite Denningite Emmonsite Eztlite Fairbankite Graemite Keystoneite Kinichilite Mackayite Moctezumite Mroseite Plumbotellurite Poughite Quetzalcoatlite Rajite Rodalquilarite Schmitterite Smirnite Sonoraite Spiroffite Teineite Winstanleyite Zemannite

Tellurates 28.4|

Carlfriesite Cheremnykhite Cuzticite Dugganite Girdite Khinite Khinite-3T Kuksite Kuranakhite Montanite Oboyerite Schieffelinite Tlalocite Tlapallite Xocomecatlite Yafsoanite Yecoraite
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