Minéralogie de l'ancienne mine plomb-zinc de Rabotrath (Lontzen, Belgique)

Abstract

The old Rabotrath mine is located close to La Calamine, and belongs to the famous Pb-Zn mining district of East Belgium. In this paper, we present a mineralogical description of new samples collected on mine dumps. Besides classical Pb-Zn minerals as sphalerite, smithsonite, and galena, we discovered three new mineral occurrences for Belgium: parascholzite, zaccagnaite-(3R), and a mineral of the plumbogummite-goyazite series. Chalcophanite and plumbojarosite were also identified; it's the second Belgian occurrence for these mineral species. The total number of minerals found in Rabotrath is 25; the present work significantly contributes to a better knowledge of Pb-Zn mineralizations in the Moresnet area.