Getchellite is a rare arsenic-antimony sulfide mineral typically found in epithermal gold deposits. It is most easily identified by its distinctive dark red to orange-red color, adamantine luster, and association with other arsenic-bearing minerals like realgar.
Is this getchellite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch getchellite with a known reference. Getchellite sits at Mohs 1.5-2, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: red-orange.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: pearly to vitreous on cleavage surfaces, otherwise resinous.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: dark red, blood red, purple red.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: monoclinic. Typical habit: micaceous.
Often confused with
Getchellite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Luster reads pearly to vitreous on cleavage surfaces, otherwise resinous on Getchellite and resinous to greasy on Realgar.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Getchellite leaves red-orange, Orpiment leaves pale lemon-yellow; luster reads pearly to vitreous on cleavage surfaces, otherwise resinous on Getchellite and resinous, pearly on cleavage surface on Orpiment.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Getchellite leaves red-orange, Cinnabar leaves scarlet; luster reads pearly to vitreous on cleavage surfaces, otherwise resinous on Getchellite and adamantine, inclining to metallic when dark; dull in friable material on Cinnabar.
Often found alongside getchellite
Minerals reported to co-occur with getchellite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- AsSbS₃
- Mohs hardness
- 1.5-2
- Density
- 3.92 g/cm³
- Colors
- Streak
- Red-orange
- Luster
- Pearly to vitreous on cleavage surfaces, otherwise resinous
- Transparency
- Transparent
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Crystal habit
- Micaceous
- Cleavage
- Perfect micaceous on {001}, yielding flexible, inelastic lamellae
- Rarity
- Rare
- Uses
- Collector
- Host rock
- In an epithermal gold deposit formed in a narrow, steeply-dipping fault zone cutting interbedded Paleozoic (?) shales, argillites, and limestones, near a granodiorite intrusive (Getchell mine, Nevada, USA)
Where rockhounds find getchellite
Classic worldwide localities
- Getchell mine, about 32 km northeast of Golconda, Potosi district, Humboldt Co. (type locality), and in the Carlin mine, 50 km northwest of Elko, Lynn district, Eureka Co., Nevada, USA
- Zarehshuran gold deposit, 35 km north of Takab, northwestern Iran
- Gal-Khaya deposit, Sakha, Russia
- Khaydarkan and in the Chauvai Sb–Hg deposit, Fergana Valley, Alai Range, Kyrgyzstan
- Toya mine, Abuta, Hokkaido, Japan
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: In an epithermal gold deposit formed in a narrow, steeply-dipping fault zone cutting interbedded Paleozoic (?) shales, argillites, and limestones, near a granodiorite intrusive (Getchell mine, Nevada, USA). If you start seeing orpiment, realgar, stibnite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: micaceous. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
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Find getchellite on the map
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