Raspite Locality: Broken Hill Proprietary Mine (Proprietary Mine; BHP Mine), Broken Hill , Yancowinna County, New South Wales , Australia ( Locality at mindat.org ) Picture width 3 mm. Collection and photograph Christian Rewitzer — Photo: Christian Rewitzer · CC BY-SA 3.0
Raspite
The low-temperature monoclinic form of lead tungstate — yellow-brown crystals, dimorphous with stolzite.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Raspite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the tungstate class, with the chemical formula Pb(WO₄).
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system (space group P2_1/a). It is a member of the Raspite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 2.5–3; specific gravity 8.46; Adamantine luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Rsp, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1897.
An uncommon secondary mineral formed in the oxidized zone of tungsten-bearing hydrothermal base metal deposits; inverts to stolzite above 410 ° C.
It is found associated with Stolzite, yttrotungstite, alumotungstite, cuprotungstite, ferritungstite.
The mineral was named to honor Charles Rasp (1846–1907), German–Australian prospector who discovered the Broken Hill deposit.