Cochise College          Photos of Minerals

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                          Roger Weller, geology instructor

                          [email protected]
                                  copyright 2007-R.Weller
 

Mineral Information on:
hanksite

Chemical Group:    (your choice)...sulfate, carbonate, or chloride

Chemical Formula:    9Na₂SO₄.2Na₂CO₃.KCl

Color: white, gray, yellow                Streak:

Hardness:                 Specific Gravity:                  Fracture:

Cleavage:    basal cleavage          Solubility:  water soluble

Crystal Forms: Hexagonal
  Crystals resemble double-terminated quartz, but hanksite is soft and soluble.

Mineral Associations: halite, gaylussite, pirssonite, dolomite, aragonite,
nahcolite, trona, borax, thanardite, aphthitalite

Identifying Characteristics:

Uses: borax ore

USA occurrences:
California
      Borax Lake, San Bernardino County
      Searles Lake, San Bernardino County (original discovery 1884) 
      borax sinks of Death Valley in Inyo County

Toxicity:      when-swallowed-                            when inhaled-

Additional Information:
     Mineral was named after Henry Hanks, the first State Mineralogist of California.