Connellite from Bisbee, Arizona : a single-crystal X-ray study

We have reported single-crystal X-ray structures of three specimens of buttgenbachite, ca. Cu36Cl6(NO3)2(OH)64 • nH2O, from the Toughnut mine, Tombstone, Arizona, USA; the Likasi mine, Jadotville, Shaba Province, Democratic Republic of Congo; and the Cole shaft, Bisbee, Arizona (Hibbs et al., 2002, 2003a), together with the structure of a specimen of connellite from the Great Australia mine, Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia (Hibbs et al., 2003b). The nature of the connellite-buttgenbachite solid solution, with connellite being the sulfate-dominant, rather than nitrate-dominant end-member, is complex and the above studies have resolved certain structural difficulties associated with the oxyanions sites in the lattice (Fanfani et al., 1973; McLean and Anthony, 1972).