Erythrite is a secondary hydrated cobalt arsenate mineral. Erythrite was first described in 1832 for an occurrence in Grube Daniel, Schneeberg, Saxony,and takes its name from the Greek έ�?υθ�?ος (erythros), meaning red. Historically, erythrite itself has not been an economically important mineral, but a geologist may use it as a guide to locating associated elements such as cobalt and native silver. Notable localities are Cobalt, Ontario; Schneeberg, Saxony, Germany; Joachimsthal, Czech Republic; Cornwall, England; Bou Azzer, Morocco; the Blackbird mine, Lemhi County, Idaho; Sara Alicia mine, near Alamos, Sonora, Mexico; Mt. Cobalt, Queensland and the Dome Rock copper mine, Mingary, South Australia.

Within the metaphysical realm of minerals, Erythrite allows for flowing, strong connections between all of a believer's Chakras, bringing the use of loving personal power to the realm of spirituality. It brings harmony in communications and imparts responsiveness, as well as helping the believer to see in many directions and assimilate the knowledge coming from each. Erythrite does contain harmful elements which can be seen in further detail in the 'Health Hazards' section of this article.

Please note that MIROFOSS does not suggest in any way that minerals should be used in place of proper medical and psychological care. This information is provided here as a reference only.

Erythrite is generally used as a collectors mineral and as an identifier for cobalt and silver.

Erythrite is a secondary mineral in cobalt-bearing deposits.

Erythrite occurs as a secondary mineral in the oxide zone of Co–Ni–As bearing mineral deposits. It occurs in association with cobaltite, skutterudite, symplesite, roselite-beta, scorodite, pharmacosiderite, adamite, morenosite, retgersite, and malachite. The nickel variety, annabergite, occurs as a light green nickel bloom on nickel arsenides. In addition iron, magnesium and zinc can also substitute for the cobalt position, creating three other minerals: parasymplesite (Fe), hörnesite (Mg) and kottigite (Zn). The colour of erythrite is crimson to pink and occurs as a secondary coating known as cobalt bloom on cobalt arsenide minerals. Well-formed crystals are rare, with most of the mineral manifesting in crusts or small reniform aggregates.

Other than in the basic mineral form, erythrite can be found in one distinct variety:

Mg-rich Erythrite

Cleavage	Perfect
Colour(s)	Colourless, Violet red, Light pink, Purple red
Specific Gravity	3.12
Diaphaneity	Transparent to Sub transparent
Fracture	Sectile - Curved shavings or scrapings produced by a knife blade
Mohs Hardness	1.5 to 2.0
Luminescence	Non-fluorescent
Lustre	Pearly
Streak	Pinkish red
Habit(s)	Divergent to Prismatic to Striated
Radioactivity	Non-radioactive
Magnetism	Non-magnetic

The following health hazards should be noted when handling erythrite:

	ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD erythrite contains the elements Arsenic and Cobalt which are known to cause long term environmental effects.
	TOXIC Conichalcite contains the element Arsenic which is fatal if ingested.

The following image shows the Elemental breakdown of the mineral erythrite along with the mineral crystal structure.

Crystal System	Monoclinic
Class	Prismatic
Axial Ratios	a : b : c = 0.7629 : 1 : 0.3545
Morphology	Crystals prismatic to acicular and typically flattened; deeply striated or furrowed. Crystals are rare; frequently as radial or stellate groups; globular or reniform shapes with druzy surfaces and columnar or coarse-fibrous structure. Earthy or pulverulent.
Optical Data Type	Biaxial(+)
Pleochroism	Visible
RL Values	nα = 1.626 - 1.629 nβ = 1.662 - 1.663 nγ = 1.699 - 1.701
2V	Measured: 85° to 90°, Calculated: 88° to 90°
Max Birefringence	δ = 0.073 (See colour chart at right)
Surface Relief	Moderate
Comments	May be biaxial negative

Erythrite can be referenced in certain current and historical texts under the following nine names:

Arsenate of Cobalt	Cobalt Bloom	Cobalt Rust	Cobalt-mica
Cobalt Ocher	Erythrite (of Beudant)	Red Cobalt	Red Cobalt ochre
Rhodoial

The mineral erythrite can be translated into the following select languages:

Arabic		Bulgarian		Chinese (Sim)	钴华
Croatian		Czech		Danish
Dutch	Erythriet	Esperanto		Estonian	erütriit
Finnish	erytriitti	French	érythrite	German	Erythrin
Greek		Hebrew		Hungarian	Eritrin
Italian	Eritrite	Japanese	エリトリット	Korean	요르맆라읻
Latin	Cobalti minera colore rubro	Lithuanian		Norwegian
Persian	اریتریت	Polish	Erytryn	Portuguese	eritrite
Romanian	Vanadinit	Russian	Эритрин	Slovak
Spanish	Eritrina	Swedish	Koboltbeslag	Tagalog
Turkish	eritrit	Ukrainian	Еритрин	Vietnamese

The MIROFOSS database offers free printable geological identification tags for personal and non-profit use. These tags can be used to properly identify mineral samples in your collection. -Click here- to download a full size jpeg image for a erythrite identification tag; which can be printed on paper or used with a plastic laser printer.

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Crystallography	Larsen, E.S. and Berman, H. (1934) The Microscopic Determination of the Nonopaque Minerals, Second edition, USGS Bulletin 848: 120, 178.
Crystallography	G. H. Faye and E. H. Nickel (1968): The origin of pleochroism in erythrite. Can. Mineral. 9, 493-504.
History	Anthony, J.W., Bideaux, R.A., Bladh, K.W., and Nichols, M.C. (2000) Handbook of Mineralogy, Volume IV. Arsenates, Phosphates, Vanadates. Mineral Data Publishing, Tucson, AZ, 680 pp.: 159.
History	Wolfe (1940) American Mineralogist: 25: 804.
Geograpcial Data	Mindat.org. Retrieved on 2012-05-30
Physical Identification	Webmineral.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-30
May 30, 2012	The last time this page was updated
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