Smithsonite is a favorite among mineral collectors because can occur in a wide variety of colors. The Tsumeb mine alone produces specimens of this mineral in many different shades and tints of green, yellow to brown, white and pink. Specimens with this distinctive pale, but vivid turquoise blue, due to copper impurities, are among the most sought after. Smithsonite is dominantly found as botryoidal crusts, but more coarsely crystalline druses and single crystals are also known, especially from the Tsumeb mine.
Considering the fact that smithsonite, a zinc carbonate of the calcite group, is one of the most common secondary zinc minerals, well-developed, aesthetic crystals are surprisingly rare. The mines at Tsumeb and Berg Aukas are perhaps not only the most prolific producers of fine crystals, but the world's finest specimens for the species as well.
