Where it forms, where it's found
- Type locality
- Terlingua Mining District
- Texas
- USA
2recorded occurrences
Safety & handling
Physical
- Transparency
- Transparent
- Colour
- Dark brown · black
- Streak
- Red-brown
- Density
- 9.5 g/cm³
Optical
- Optical type
- Biaxial
- Birefringence
- Very strong
- Pleochroism
- Strong
From red to almost opaque black
- Notes
Refractive indices could not be measured but are > 2.
Crystallography
- Space group
- #55
- Cell parameters
- a = 11.619(3) Å · b = 6.105(2) Å · c = 11.710(3) Å
- Ratio a:b:c
- 1 : 0.525 : 1.008
- Unit cell volume
- 830.6 ų
- Morphology
Blocky to tabular. Forms (001), (010), (100), and (012).
- Type-locality form
Euhedral crystals up to 1 mm in size.
- Comment
Hawthorne et al. (1994)
Crystal structure
Chemical composition
Synonyms
- IMA1973-052
- Pinchiet
In other languages
- German
- IMA 1973-052 · Pinchit
- Italian
- Pinchite
Classification
Strunz
10th ed.3.DD.25
- 3HalidesClass
- 3.DOxyhalides, hydroxyhalides and related double halidesDivision
- 3.DDWith HgGroup
- 3.DD.25PinchiteSpecies
Dana
8th ed.10.05.03.01
- 10Oxyhalides and HydroxyhalidesClass
- 10.05Am(O,OH)pXqType
- 10.05.03— unnamed intermediate level —Group
- 10.05.03.01PinchiteSpecies
CIM
—8.5.5
- 8Halides - Fluorides, Chlorides, Bromides and Iodides; also Fluoborates and FluosilicatesClass
- 8.5Halides of Zn and HgGroup
- 8.5.5PinchiteSpecies
Literature, links & citation
Citations
- 1974Sturman, B. D., Mandarino, J. A. (1974) Pinchite, a new mercury oxychloride from Terlingua, Texas. The Canadian Mineralogist, 12 (6) 417-418
- 1976Fleischer, Michael, Chao, George Y., Mandarino, Joseph A. (1976) New Mineral Names. American Mineralogist, 61 (3-4) 338-341
- 1994Hawthorne, F.C., Cooper, M., Sen Gupta, P.K. (1994) The crystal structure of pinchite, Hg5Cl2O4. American Mineralogist: 79: 1199-1203.
- 2005(2005) Pinchite. Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
author = {Mineral Index editorial board},
title = {Pinchite — Mineral Index},
year = {2026},
url = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/pinchite-3216},
note = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}