LEAD

    Class : Elements
    Subclass : Metals
    Crystal system : Cubic
    Chemistry : Pb
    Rarity : Very rare to rare

Native lead is an exceptional mineral in various contexts : hydrothermal, fumarolic, placers, etc... Its name comes from the Latin plumbum (lead). Lead rarely forms millimeter octahedral, cubic or dodecahedral crystals. It is best known in masses and blades filling cracks, exceptionally reaching 60 kg in the Langban deposit (Sweden), sometimes in filaments and dendrites. It is a mineral of low hardness (1.5), very dense (11.4) and very malleable like the majority of native metals. Its color is gray, similar to the aged industrial lead with which we are familiar. Its rarity means that it does not constitute a lead ore.


Main photo : Native lead from Långban Mine, Sweden © Kelly Nash

Lead in the World

The largest masses of native lead and the largest known crystals (4 cm skeletal octahedra) come from Langban (Sweden). Native lead is also known in the fumarolic deposits of Madeira (Portugal), replacing tree roots by surface authigenic processes in Tubac (Arizona), at the Franklin mine (New Jersey), etc...

Right photo : Native lead replacing fossil plant roots from Tubac, Arizona, USA © Michael Cline

Lead in France

In France, native lead will be known in the gravel pits of Belley (Ain), but the pollution of waterways by hunting or fishing lead can make formal identification complicated in alluvial areas.

Twinning

Herring bone twins are known on {111}.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes listed for this mineral species.


Hardness : 1.5
Density : 11.37
Fracture : Hackly
Streak : Gray

TP : Opaque
RI : -
Birefringence : 0
Optical character : None
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : Nitric acid

Magnetism : NoneRadioactivity : None