Mah-242: 2+lb. Rare Otavite (CdCO3) Specimen, Mahoney (NM), Fluorescent Mineral

Description

Gail made this spectacular find hidden under a bush in one of our trips to Mahoney in March 2021.  It's easily in the top two or three otavite specimens that we have ever found there.
Background: In recent years we had found specimens
at the Mahoney Mining Area, south of Deming, NM,
that were
part of the calcite cap rock overlying the vein of zinc ore at the prospect.
However, a few specimens had patches that glowed red under short wave lamp and, strangely,
phosphoresced orange
briefly after the lamp was turned off.  We were curious to find out what the mineral was, so we sent a specimen to New Mexico Tech in Socorro, NM for an x-ray diffraction analysis.  The minerals were identified as calcite, hemimorphite, and the rare mineral
otavite (cadmium carbonate)
.  See XRD graph in photo #8.
This layered rock has some white hemimorphite coating visible on one side
, a thin layer of grey calcite in the middle, & caramel-colored calcite on the other side (daylight photos #6 & 7).
Under short wave lamp the hemimorphite glows
bright light blue,
some opal
green,
and the otavite
pinky-red
on side one (photo #1).  The otavite phosphoresces
orange
when the SW lamp is turned off (photo #2).
The edge of the specimen under short wave is shown in photo #3.  T
he caramel calcite glows
bright yellow-orange,
while t
he thin layer of grey calcite is non-fluorescent.
On side two the caramel calcite has a thin coating of aragonite that glows
pale blue
in SW (photo #4).  The aragonite
phosphoresces
after the lamp is turned off.
The aragonite coating and caramel calcite also glow in long wave (photo #5).
Photo #9: Ken, with Molly and Ellie, takes a break from digging at
one of the many mine dumps at Mahoney
, which produced mostly zinc & lead ores from small mines & prospects in the early 1900s.
Photo #10: Looking north from near the top of the Big Florida Mountains, south of Deming, NM.
Photo #11: Rattlesnakes are now starting to emerge after a long winter.
Weighs 2 lbs. 2.6 oz. & measures 5.0 x 5.0 x 1.75 inches (#Mah-242).
Shipping by US Priority Mail.
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using the appropriate box, when you make multiple purchases.
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FILMED WITH NIKON COOLPIX 5000 CAMERA AND 13 WATT DC
SUPERBRIGHT II
LAMP (SW) & CONVOY S2 FLASHLIGHT (LW).
SHORT WAVE LAMP NEEDED TO VIEW FLUORESCENCE.