Hanksite

Hanksite can be colorless, white, gray, green or yellow and is transparent or translucent. The mineral's hardness is approximately 3 to 3.5. The specific gravity is approximately 2.5 (slightly below average). It is salty to the taste and sometimes glows pale yellow in ultraviolet light. Typical growth habits are hexagonal prisms or tabular with pyramidal terminations. The streak of Hanksite is white. It can contain inclusions of clay that the crystal formed around while developing.

It was first described in 1888 for an occurrence in Searles Lake, California, and named for American geologist Henry Garber Hanks. Hanksite is normally found in crystal form as evaporite deposits. Hanksite crystals are large but not complex in structure. It is often found in Searles Lake, Soda Lake, Mono Lake, and in Death Valley. At its deposits in San Bernardino County, California hanksite is commonly found beneath the surface embedded in mud or in drill cores (Palache et al., 1960). It is associated with halite, borax, trona and aphthitalite at the Searles Lake locality. It is also associated with borax mining in the Soda Lake area.