Liebigita
Liebigita is a mineral with formula Ca₂(UO₂)(CO₃)₃·10–11H₂O, in the Carbonatos de uranilo group. This specimen comes from Grube Bergfreiheit, Oberschmiedeberg, Riesengebirge, Silesia, Polonia and joined the Terrium collection in 1900.
Description
R1 or The Survivor—waxy coating of yellowish-green liebigite on massive uraninite matrix. Very heavy and highly radioactive; it quickly exceeds the 40 µSv/h maximum of the meter used.
History of this specimen
This piece is a geopolitical survivor and a terminological time capsule: it has endured three changes of sovereignty, two world wars and the Cold War. Labelled c.1900 as 'Uranothallit', an archaic name for liebigite, at Oberschmiedeberg, then Prussia, it remained in German hands after 1945 and escaped Soviet looting. It resurfaced in 1999 in the collection of Joachim Schöne, in Dresden, and its traceability could be certified thanks to the archives of the Bergakademie Freiberg, from where Anja and Philipp Höfer retrieved it. Studying there during the first third of the 19th century involved collecting minerals, and students were encouraged to form their own collection. That is why old sets still surface. This piece is a historical document: its labels narrate the passage from imperial German mining to modern mineralogy.
About Liebigita
SCIENTIFIC RARITY. Liebigite is a hydrated uranyl-calcium carbonate, with unmistakable apple-green colour and intense fluorescence.
About the locality
Grube Bergfreiheit, "Mountain Freedom Mine", in Oberschmiedeberg, is today the Kopalnia Wolność of Kowary, in Poland. Located in the Giant Mountains, it once supplied major cabinets in Berlin and Vienna. After 1945, under Soviet control and with the code name 'R-1', it became a secret uranium extraction centre for the USSR's nuclear programme. It is now closed, flooded and inaccessible.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0295
- Composition
- Ca₂(UO₂)(CO₃)₃·10–11H₂O
- Name
- Liebigita
- Group
- Carbonatos de uranilo
- Category
- Núcleus Ardens
- Matrix
- Uraninita masiva
- Mine
- Grube Bergfreiheit
- District / Municipality
- Oberschmiedeberg
- Province
- Riesengebirge
- Region
- Silesia
- Country
- Polonia
- Size (cm)
- 8 x 4.7 x 4
- Weight
- 303.8 g
- Acquired
- 1900
- Ex-collection
- Bergakademie Freiberg (pre-1914) → Colección centroeuropea (1950–1970) → H. Knijnenburg → Joachim Schöne → Anja & Phillip Höfer
- Etymology
- From the chemist Justus von Liebig.
- Quality
- Top
- Value trend
- Al alza
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