45 
NATROJAROSITE FROM KUNDIP, PHILLIPS RIVER 
GOLDFIELD. 
By 
Edward S. Simpson, B.E., B.Se., F.C.S., and Maurice A. 
Browne, B.A. 
(Read April 13, 1915.) 
Before entering upon a description of the mineral Natrojarosite 
from Kundip and its mode of occurrence, it will be well to give a 
short outline of the history of the species Natrojarosite and its 
potassium homologue, Jarosite. This is advisable since, whilst both 
are comparatively rare minerals, the subject of this paper is so 
little known that even its name does not appear in any but the .most 
recent text books. 
HISTORICAL. 
1838. C. F. Rammelsberg described a “Yellow Iron Ore” (Gelb- 
eisenerz) from Luschitz, Bohemia, where it occurred in brown coal. 
The composition was that of a basic sulphate of iron and potassium, 
for which the author calculated the formula, K 2 0.4Fe 2 0 3 .5S0 3 .9H 2 0. 
— Pogg. Annal., 43, 132. 
Later in the same year, Scheerer published an analysis of a 
similar mineral occurring in alum-slate at Modum, Norway. In 
this, sodium entirely replaced the potassium of the Luschitz mineral, 
the calculated formula being Na 2 0.4Fe 2 0 3 .5S0 3 .9H 2 0. — Pogg. 
Annal. 45, 188. 
1847. J. A. F. Breithaupt first used the specific name Jarosite 
for the basic potassium iron sulphate from Sierra Almegrera, Spain, 
and other similar minerals of rhombohedral crystallisation. - - Berg, 
u. Hutt. Zeit. 6, 68. 
1866. A yellow mineral from Paillieres, France, thought to be 
a basic sulphate of iron without alkalies, named Pastreite by Dr. 
Normann. — Verhan. n.-h. Ver. RlieinL, 17. 
1864-1890. Typical potash-bearing Jarosite, described by 
various authors from Spain, Saxony, Urals, Arizona, Colorado, 
Utah, Mexico, and Peru. 
1893. W. P. Headden described as Jarosite a mineral occur- 
ring in auriferous quartzite at the Buxton Mine, Lawrence Co., 
South Dakota. According to a subsequent recalculation of Head- 
den’s figures Ibis mineral contained soda, 4.86 per cent.; potash, 1.65 
per cent. It was, therefore, not Jarosite but its sodium hoinologue. 
— Amer. Jour. Sci., 46, 24. 
