Antimony ochre

Antimony ochre (Antimony ocher in American English) or ochre of antimony (German: аntimonocker, French: antimon ochre) — a partially obsolete trivial name for secondary antimony minerals of the oxide class. Antimony ochres most often have the appearance of a powdery brown-yellow to whitish product of weathering (oxidation) of antimonite or native antimony. Usually they are not a pure mineral (one of the ochres), but a mixture of two or more minerals: cervantite, valentinite, romeite, senarmontite, stibiconite, sometimes with an admixture of limonite or quartz.

In the mineralogical sense of the word, antimony ochres are a loosely defined group of secondary antimony minerals of the oxide and hydroxide class. The most common antimony ochres are cervantite, romeite, and stibiconite,^: 330 but their number is by no means exhaustive. At various times, this conditional list also included other names, some of which are now recognized as incorrect or non-existent.

Antimony ochres are associated ore minerals, often more difficult to obtain antimony than the main antimonite, in addition, they are found in nature in small quantities, as an impurity or coating, which is why they are rarely used separately. They received their name by analogy, for their external resemblance to light ochres.^: 489