Paravauxite Locality: Siglo Veinte Mine (Siglo XX Mine; Llallagua Mine; Catavi), Llallagua , Rafael Bustillo Province , Potosí Department , Bolivia ( Locality at mindat.org ) An excellent and aesthetic specimen of lustrous and translucent 1.0 cm long colorless paravauxite prisms set on matrix. Ex Gary Hansen collection 4.6 x 3.7 x 1.8 cm — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0
Paravauxite
A rare iron-aluminium phosphate named in 1922 for its chemical kinship to vauxite.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Paravauxite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the phosphate class, with the chemical formula Fe²⁺Al₂(PO₄)₂(OH)₂·8H₂O.
It crystallizes in the triclinic crystal system (space group P-1). It is a member of the Laueite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 3; specific gravity 2.36; White streak; Vitreous, pearly on cleavages luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Pvx, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1922.
A rare mineral found in hydrothermal tin veins (Llallagua, Bolivia); in complex granite pegmatites.
It is found associated with Vauxite, metavauxite, wavellite, sigloite, crandallite, childrenite, quartz (Llallagua, Bolivia).
Its name comes from the Greek para, for near, and its chemical relation to vauxite.