Minium
Mineral Pb3O4
Also called Red lead
Take care.
- Contains lead: Wash your hands after handling it, keep it away from children, and don't make dust.
About it
Bright scarlet, powdery to earthy crusts, very heavy for their look, formed where lead ores weather or mine fires burn. The natural form of 'red lead', the pigment long made artificially.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Oxide
- Formula
- Pb3O4
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2.5–3
- Specific gravity
- 8.2–9.2
- Streak
- orange-yellow to orange-red
- Lustre
- greasy, dull, adamantine (diamond-like)
- Crystal system
- Tetragonal
- Colours
- bright red, orange-red
- Transparency
- translucent, opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect in two directions
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.