Curite Mineral Data

[Mineral Forums] [Minerals for Sale] [About Us] [En Espanol] [Mineral Gallery]
Fabre Minerals - Europe's first Internet mineral dealer, on the web since 1996

General Curite Information

Chemical Formula:

Pb3+x(H2O)2[(UO2)4+x(OH)3-x]2, x~0.5

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 3,006.49 gm

Uranium 63.34 % U 71.85 % UO₂

Hydrogen 0.30 % H 2.70 % H₂O

Lead 24.12 % Pb 25.98 % PbO

Oxygen 12.24 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.53 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

Pb_3.5(H₂O)₂2(UO₂)₄2(OH)_2.5

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1921

Locality:

Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named for Pierre Curie (1859-1906) and Marie Curie-Sklodowska (1867 - 1934), French research team of radioactive minerals. Discoverd the element radium.

Name Pronunciation:

Curite

Synonym:

ICSD 100260

PDF 14-267

Curite Image

Images:

Curite

Comments: Orangish red curite crystals.
Location: Shinkolobwe mine, Tantara, Shaba, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Scale: Not Given.
© Lou Perloff / Photo Atlas of Minerals

Curite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:b:c =0.9654:1:0.6446

Cell Dimensions:

a = 12.58, b = 13.03, c = 8.4, Z = 2; V = 1,376.91 Den(Calc)= 7.25

Crystal System:

Orthorhombic - DipyramidalH-M Symbol (2/m 2/m 2/m) Space Group: Pnam

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 6.23(1), 3.14(0.8), 3.96(0.7),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 1 1 0) ( 1 0 0) ( 1 1 1)

Warning: this large pop-up is very compute intensive and may not work well with some computers.

Crystal Structure:

Mouse
drag1 - LMB Manipulate Structure
drag2 - RMB Resize/Rotate
Keyboard
S - Stereo Pair on/off
H - Help Screen
I - Data Info
A - Atoms On/Off
P - Polyhedra On/Off
B - Bonds On/Off
Help on Above

Burns P C , Hill F C , The Canadian Mineralogist , 38 (2000) p.175-181, Implications of the synthesis and structure of the Sr analogue, of curite

View Additional jPOWD Structure files for Curite
[1] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Physical Properties of Curite

Cleavage:

{100} Good, {110} Good

Color:

Yellow, Reddish orange, Brownish yellow.

Density:

7.19

Diaphaneity:

Transparent to Translucent

Fracture:

Brittle - Generally displayed by glasses and most non-metallic minerals.

Habit:

Acicular - Occurs as needle-like crystals.

Habit:

Encrustations - Forms crust-like aggregates on matrix.

Habit:

Massive - Fibrous - Distinctly fibrous fine-grained forms.

Hardness:

4-5 - Fluorite-Apatite

Luster:

Adamantine

Streak:

orange

Optical Properties of Curite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= -0.332 (Poor) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= -0.321 (Poor) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.1526,KPDmeas= 0.1539,KC= 0.1156
Ncalc = 1.83 - 1.84

Optical Data:

Biaxial (-), a=2.06, b=2.11, g=2.15, bire=0.0900, 2V(Calc)=80, 2V(Meas)=70.

Calculated Properties of Curite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=5.86 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Curite =7.25 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.05
Boson Index = 0.95

Photoelectric:

PE_Curite=2,234.12 barns/electron
U=PE_Curite x r_electron=13102.35 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 4,367,146.75 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Concentration of Curite per GRapi unit = 228.98 (PPB)

Curite is Radioactive as defined in 49 CFR 173.403. Greater than 70 Bq / gram.

Estimated Maximum U.S. Postal Shipping Size (10 mRem/hr limit, Unshielded 10 cm box) 6.96 ± 1.74 grams of pure Curite .
Estimated Maximum U.S. Postal Shipping Size (10 mRem/hr limit, Unshielded 100 cm box) 696.49 ±174.12 grams of pure Curite .

**Estimated Radioactivity from Curite** - very strong
Specimen Size Weight/Volume (Sphere) *	Calculated Activity Bequerols (Bq)	Calculated Activity Curies (Ci)	Estimated Activity GR(api)	Estimated Exposure (mRem**)/hr If Held in Hand For One Hour
1000 gm / 6.41 cm	113,373,906	3.06E-03	4,367,146.75	1,435.77
100 gm / 2.98 cm	11,337,391	3.06E-04	436,714.68	143.58
10 gm / 1.38 cm	1,133,739	3.06E-05	43,671.47	14.36
1 gm / 6.41 mm	113,374	3.06E-06	4,367.15	1.44
0.1 gm / 2.98 mm	11,337	3.06E-07	436.71	0.14
0.01 gm / 1.38 mm	1,134	3.06E-08	43.67	0.01
0.001 gm / 0.64 mm	113	3.06E-09	4.37	0.00

Weight of pure Curite in grams (gm) and Calculated Diameter of a Sphere with a Density of 7.25 gm/cc.*
Goverment Estimate of Average Annual Exposure ( 360 mRem) **
Note: 10 microsieverts/hr = 1 mRem/hr **
Max Permissable Adult Dose 50,000 mRem/yr (hands), 15,000 mRem/yr (eyes)
Lethal Dose LD(50) Exposure 400,000 to 500,000 mRem

Curite Classification

Dana Class:

05.09.03.01 (05)Oxides Containing Uranium and Thorium

(05.09)with a cation charge of 6+ containing Pb or Bi and some water of hydration or hydroxyl

(05.09.03)Dana Group

05.09.03.01 Curite Pb3x(H2O)2[(UO2)4x(OH)3-x]2,x~0.5 Pnam 2/m 2/m 2/m

Strunz Class:

04.GB.55 04 - OXIDES (Hydroxides, V[5,6] vanadates, arsenites, antimonites, bismuthites, sulfites, selenites, tellurites, iodate

04.G - Uranyl Hydroxides

04.GB -With additional cations (K, Ca, Ba, Pb, etc.); with mainly UO2(O,OH)5 pentagonal polyhedra

04.GB.55 Curite Pb3x(H2O)2[(UO2)4x(OH)3-x]2,x~0.5 Pnam 2/m 2/m 2/m

Other Curite Information

References:

NAME( Duda&Rejl90) PHYS. PROP.(AmMin, v 86, p 379) OPTIC PROP.(Ford32)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Curite :
1 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
2 - Athena
3 - EUROmin Project
4 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
5 - Google Images
6 - Google Scholar
7 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
8 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
9 - MinDAT
10 - MinMax(Deutsch)
11 - MinMax(English)
12 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
13 - QUT Mineral Atlas
14 - Ruff.Info
15 - Uranium Minerals
16 - WWW-MINCRYST

Search for Curite using:

[ALTAVISTA] [AOL] [All-The-Web] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [MAMMA] [MSN.COM] [Netscape] [Scirus] [Teoma] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Curite :

AA Mineral Specimens

B & L Fine Minerals

Crystalarium.com

Dan Weinrich Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Auctions

Dakota Matrix

Desert Winds Gems and Minerals

John Betts Fine Minerals

Mason's Minerals

Mineral News

Mineral of the Month Club

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Curite Mineral Data :

Ask about Curite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Español

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Curite Specimen Label here :

Curite

Pb3+x(H2O)2[(UO2)4+x(OH)3-x]2, x~0.5
Dana No: 05.09.03.01 Strunz No: 04.GB.55
Locality:

Notes: