Dresserite is a

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

of the dresserite group, named in honor of John Alexander Dresser, geologist. It was approved by the IMA in 1968, but only a year after was it published. The rare mineral can only be found in Francon quarry, Canada. The quarry is located in the middle of the city of

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, but had been closed in 1981 and will not reopen in the future.

Properties

It is a member of the carbonates family, mostly consisting of oxygen (44.29%), barium (34.56%) and aluminum (13.58%), but otherwise contains carbon (6.05%) and hydrogen (1.52%). It is associated with

weloganite Weloganite is a rare carbonate mineral with formula: It was discovered by Canadian government mineralogist Ann P. Sabina in 1967 and named for Canadian geologist Sir William Edmond Logan (1798–1875). It was first discovered in Francon Quarr ...

dawsonite Dawsonite is a mineral composed of sodium aluminium carbonate hydroxide, chemical formula NaAlCO3(OH)2. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system. It is not mined for ore. It was discovered in 1874 during the construction of the Redpath ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, and

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more prope ...

. It grows into tapering acicular crystals, elongated along 01and bladed on . It is typically in divergent spherical and hemispherical aggregates. It occurs in cavities in alkalic sill in limestone. Size is up to 5 mm. It is soluble in dilute hydrogen chloride, and dissolves readily with a effervescence. It is the barium analogue of

dundasite Dundasite is a rare lead aluminium carbonate mineral. The mineral is named after the type locality, Dundas, Tasmania, Australia. The mineral was first discovered in the Adelaide Proprietary Mine. Dundasite was first described by William Frederick ...

. Dresserite does not show any kind of luminescence whatsoever. The measured density of the mineral, due to its fibrous nature, is too low. The

differential thermal analysis Differential thermal analysis (DTA) is a thermoanalytic technique that is similar to differential scanning calorimetry. In DTA, the material under study and an inert reference are made to undergo identical thermal cycles, (i.e., same cooling or ...

(DTA) curve of the mineral is similar to dundasite's in appearance. The principal endothermic peak is at 384°C. When heated up to this degree, dresserite loses all of its water and carbon dioxide.

References

{{reflist Orthorhombic minerals Minerals