Crocoite
Mineral PbCrO4
Also called Red lead ore
Take care.
- Contains lead: Wash your hands after handling it, keep it away from children, and don't make dust.
- Toxic: Wash your hands after handling it, don't lick or taste it, and don't make dust.
- Fragile: Handle it gently and pack it well; it breaks or crumbles easily.
About it
Bright orange-red, slender prisms of lead chromate that snap easily; the hexavalent chromium adds to the lead hazard. The great specimens come from Dundas in Tasmania, where it is the state mineral emblem.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Chromate
- Formula
- PbCrO4
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2.5–3
- Specific gravity
- 5.9–6.1
- Streak
- orange-yellow
- Lustre
- adamantine (diamond-like), vitreous (glassy)
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Colours
- orange-red, red, orange, yellow
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- distinct prismatic; conchoidal to uneven fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.