Cacoxenite is a hydrated iron and aluminum phosphate. It is a secondary mineral that associates with other secondary phosphates and limonite in the surface oxidation zone of many iron deposits. It is present, but more discreet, always as a secondary mineral, in phosphate pegmatites. Its name comes from the Greek kakos bad and xenos foreign , due to the phosphorus contained in this mineral which alters the quality of the silty iron ore which contains it.
Its crystals are usually tiny, acicular , and cocoxenite presents itself in the very typical habit of radiated or concentric spherolites not exceeding 8 mm ; it appears more rarely in disordered sheaves of fibrous crystals.
Its color is reddish orange, yellow to yellow-brown, sometimes brown. No twin known for this mineral species. Hardness : 3 to 4 Density : 2. TP : Translucent RI : 1. Minerals for sale Encyclopedia Glossary. Cacoxenite in the World The most spectacular samples of cacoxenite come from the Rock Run Station mine Alabama which yielded groups of the largest known crystals 8 mm.
It is a mineral also quite common in other iron mines in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, New York, etc. It is also known in the pegmatite of Palermo New Hampshire. Cacoxenite is well represented in Germany Hagendorf pegmatite and Amberg-Auerbach iron deposit in Bavaria, as well as in iron deposits in the region of Giessen, Hesse, etc. Cacoxenite in France.
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Twinning No twin known for this mineral species. Fakes and treatments No fake identified for this mineral species.
