Xocomecatlite is a rare

tellurate In chemistry tellurate is a compound containing an oxyanion of tellurium where tellurium has an oxidation number of +6. In the naming of inorganic compounds it is a suffix that indicates a polyatomic anion with a central tellurium atom.

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. (2 ...

with formula: Cu₃(TeO₄)(OH)₄. It is an orthorhombic mineral which occurs as aggregates or spherules of green needlelike crystals. It was first described in 1975 for an occurrence in the Oriental mine near

Moctezuma, Sonora Moctezuma is a ''municipio'' (municipality) of the Mexican state of Sonora, located in the state's central region. It is also the name of its largest settlement and '' cabecera municipal'' (municipal seat). Area and population The municipal area ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It has also been reported from the Centennial Eureka mine in the Tintic District,

Juab County Juab County ( ) is a county in western Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,246. Its county seat and largest city is Nephi. Juab County is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...

, Utah and the Emerald mine of the Tombstone District,

Cochise County Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city is ...

, Arizona in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The name is derived from ''xocomecatl'', the Nahuatl word for "bunches of

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

s", and alludes to the mineral's appearance as a set of green spherules. It occurs in the oxidized zone of gold-tellurium veins in altered rhyolite. It occurs associated with other rare tellurate minerals: parakhinite, dugganite,

tlapallite Tlapallite is a rare and complex tellurate mineral with the chemical formula . It has a Moh's hardness of 3 and it is green in colour. It was named after the Nahua word "Tlalpalli", which translates to paint, referring to the paint-like habit of ...

, mcalpineite, leisingite, jensenite; the sulfate - phosphate minerals: hinsdalite–

svanbergite Svanbergite is a colorless, yellow or reddish mineral with the chemical formula Sr Al3( P O4)( SO4)(O H)6. It has rhombohedral crystals.Richard V. Gaines, H. Catherine W. Skinner, Eugene E. Foord, Brian Mason, and Abraham Rosenzweig: " Dana's new ...

; and the oxide

goethite Goethite (, ) is a mineral of the diaspore group, consisting of iron(III) oxide-hydroxide, specifically the "α" polymorph. It is found in soil and other low-temperature environments such as sediment. Goethite has been well known since ancient t ...

References

Copper(II) minerals Tellurate and selenate minerals Orthorhombic minerals {{sulfate-mineral-stub