Libethenite

Formula: Cu2(PO4)(OH)

Species: Phosphates

Colour: Light to dark green, blackish green, olive-green; bluish green to light green in transmitted light.

Lustre: Sub-Vitreous, Resinous, Waxy, Greasy

Hardness: 4

Specific Gravity: 3.97

Crystal System: Orthorhombic

Member of: Olivenite Group, Libethenite-Olivenite Series.

Name: Named in 1823 by August Breithaupt after the type locality – Ľubietová (Libethen in German, Libetbánya in Hungarian), Slovak Republic. Prior to 1919, the locality was in the territory of Hungary.

Type Locality:  Podlipa deposit, Ľubietová, Banská Bystrica District, Banská Bystrica Region – Slovakia

Isostructural with: Adamite, Eveite

Libethenite is a secondary copper phosphate mineral found in the oxidized zone of copper ore deposits. The phosphate is often derived from the weathering of apatite and other rock-forming phosphates such as monazite and xenotime.