Middlebackite

{{Short description|Copper oxalate mineral}} {{Infobox mineral|name=Middlebackite|image=|alt=|caption=|category=Organic mineral|formula=Cu₂C₂O₄(OH)₂| IMAsymbol = Mbk<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warr|first=L.N.|date=2021|title=IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|volume=85|issue=3 |pages=291–320|doi=10.1180/mgm.2021.43 |bibcode=2021MinM...85..291W |s2cid=235729616 |doi-access=free}}</ref>|strunz=|dana=|system=Monoclinic|class=2/m - Prismatic|symmetry=|unit cell=|color=Turquoise|colour=|habit=|twinning=|cleavage=|fracture=|tenacity=|mohs=|luster=|streak=|diaphaneity=|gravity=|density=|polish=|opticalprop=|refractive=|birefringence=|pleochroism=|2V=|dispersion=|extinction=|length fast/slow=|fluorescence=|absorption=|melt=|fusibility=|diagnostic=|solubility=|impurities=|alteration=|other=|prop1=|prop1text=|references=}}'''Middlebackite''' is an organic mineral with the formula Cu₂C₂O₄(OH)₂. It was first discovered within a boulder from the Iron Monarch quarry in South Australia in June 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mindat.org/min-47562.html|title=Middlebackite: Middlebackite mineral information and data.|website=www.mindat.org|access-date=2017-09-01}}</ref> Peter Elliott from the University of Adelaide, Australia, identified the structure of the mineral 25 years later. He determined its crystal structure through single-crystal X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation. Elliot named the mineral for the Middleback Range where it originated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mineralchallenge.net/carbon-mineral-challenge-update-spring-2016-four-new-minerals-found/|title=Carbon Mineral Challenge Update Spring 2016: Four New Minerals Found |website=Carbon Mineral Challenge|language=en-US|access-date=2017-09-01}}</ref> In 2018 middlebackite was found in Val di Fiemme, Italy, during researches that brought to the discovery of a new mineral named fiemmeite.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Fiemmeite Cu2(C2O4)(OH)2∙2H2O, a New Mineral from Val di Fiemme, Trentino, Italy|journal=Minerals|volume=8|issue=6|pages=248|language=en|doi=10.3390/min8060248|year=2018|last1=Demartin|first1=Francesco|last2=Campostrini|first2=Italo|last3=Ferretti|first3=Paolo|last4=Rocchetti|first4=Ivano|doi-access=free|hdl=2434/583094|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

== Localities == * Australia: Iron Monarch open cut, Iron Knob, Middleback Range, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia * Italy: Passo di san Lugano, near Carano == References == {{reflist}}

Category:Organic minerals Category:Minerals described in 2019

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