Phosgenite
Mineral Pb2(CO3)Cl2
Take care.
- Contains lead: Wash your hands after handling it, keep it away from children, and don't make dust.
About it
Heavy, colourless to brownish square prisms with a diamond-like shine, soft enough to cut with a knife. Monteponi, Sardinia, gave the classic crystals; it forms where lead ores meet salty water.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Carbonate (with chloride)
- Formula
- Pb2(CO3)Cl2
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2–3
- Specific gravity
- 6–6.3
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- adamantine (diamond-like)
- Crystal system
- Tetragonal
- Colours
- colourless, white, grey, yellow, brownish yellow
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- good prismatic and basal; conchoidal fracture
- Under UV light
- often yellow under UV
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.