Billietite
Mineral Ba(UO2)6O4(OH)6·8H2O
Take care.
- Radioactive: Keep it in a closed, labelled box away from where people sit or sleep, handle it briefly, wash your hands after, and never grind or cut it.
About it
Amber to golden-yellow tabular crystals, the barium partner of becquerelite, on weathered uraninite. Radioactive; named for Belgian crystallographer Valère Billiet, and known from Shinkolobwe, DR Congo.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Hydroxide (uranyl oxide hydrate)
- Formula
- Ba(UO2)6O4(OH)6·8H2O
- Specific gravity
- 5.2–5.4
- Streak
- yellow
- Lustre
- adamantine (diamond-like)
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Colours
- amber, golden yellow, yellow-brown
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect basal
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.