Is anglesite a sulfate?
Is anglesite a sulfate? Yes: Pb(SO4), lead sulfate of the barite group, 68.33% lead. Galena, PbS, is the sulfide; cerussite, PbCO3, the carbonate. Worked check.
Yes. Anglesite is lead sulfate, Pb(SO4) on the IMA list, and its Handbook sheet places it in the barite group with baryte and celestine. It is 68.33% lead, 10.57% sulfur and 21.10% oxygen by mass; hardness 2.5 to 3, density 6.38. Galena, PbS, is the lead sulfide, and cerussite, PbCO3, the lead carbonate.
In short
- The verdict. Anglesite is a sulfate. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC Master List writes Pb(SO4), status G, 1832, United Kingdom; the Handbook of Mineralogy sheet writes PbSO4 and prints “Mineral Group: Barite group.” A field scan of the IMA formula column finds 6 rows written as one element with (SO4): anglesite, anhydrite, baryte, celestine, chalcocyanite and zinkosite.
- The charge-balance test. Give lead +2 and oxygen −2, and the formula must sum to zero. In PbSO4 that leaves sulfur at +6, the sulfate state. In galena, PbS, with no oxygen, sulfur is −2, the sulfide. In cerussite, PbCO3, carbon is +4: a carbonate, with no sulfur at all. Four oxygens per lead in anglesite, none in galena, three in cerussite.
- Documented failure: more sulfur is not more sulfate. Worked, galena is 13.40% sulfur and anglesite 10.57%: the sulfide carries 1.27 times as much. What anglesite has and galena lacks is oxygen, 21.10% of its mass. Streak separates them in the hand, white against lead-grey; that test is on anglesite or galena.
- An ore of which metal. Lead, 68.33% by mass, worked. The sheet says anglesite is common in the oxidized zone of lead deposits, “where it may constitute an important ore”, the same words its cerussite sheet uses. The elements it contains are lead, sulfur and oxygen; nothing else is in the formula.
- Its sulfate relatives, worked from their cells. Baryte and celestine reproduce their printed calculated densities (4.468 against 4.47; 3.972 against 3.98). Anglesite’s cell gives 6.322 against the printed 6.36: a second documented failure. Lead is a hazard question too; see is galena toxic, which is not advice.
| Mineral | IMA formula | Class, by the test | S or C oxidation state | Pb (or Ba, Sr) % | S % | O % | Density printed; from cell | 20.00 g in water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anglesite | Pb(SO4) | Sulfate | S +6 | Pb 68.33 | 10.57 | 21.10 | 6.38 meas., 6.36 calc.; 6.322 | 16.87 g |
| Galena | PbS | Sulfide | S −2 | Pb 86.60 | 13.40 | 0 | 7.58 meas., 7.57 calc. | 17.36 g |
| Cerussite | Pb(CO3) | Carbonate | C +4 | Pb 77.54 | 0 | 17.96 | 6.55 meas., 6.577 calc. | 16.95 g |
| Baryte | Ba(SO4) | Sulfate, barite group | S +6 | Ba 58.84 | 13.74 | 27.42 | 4.50 meas., 4.47 calc.; 4.468 | 15.56 g |
| Celestine | Sr(SO4) | Sulfate, barite group | S +6 | Sr 47.70 | 17.45 | 34.84 | 3.97 meas., 3.98 calc.; 3.972 | 14.96 g |
Is anglesite a sulfate or a sulfide?
A sulfate. The Handbook of Mineralogy anglesite sheet gives the formula PbSO4 and the group as the barite group; the IMA list writes Pb(SO4), with the sulfate group in brackets. The older British spelling is sulphate, used on some pages of this site; the word is the same. A sulfide has sulfur bonded to the metal with no oxygen, as in galena, PbS.
The charge-balance test, worked. In a formula the charges sum to zero. Lead is +2 and each oxygen −2. For PbSO4: 2 + S − 8 = 0, so sulfur is +6, the state of sulfur in the sulfate group. For PbS: 2 + S = 0, so sulfur is −2, the sulfide state. For PbCO3: 2 + C − 6 = 0, so carbon is +4, a carbonate. The same arithmetic gives +6 for the sulfur in baryte, Ba(SO4), and celestine, Sr(SO4). The test reads the class from the formula; the IMA list and the sheet supply the formula.
Documented failure: the sulfur shortcut. It is tempting to think a sulfate holds more sulfur than a sulfide. Worked on standard atomic weights it is the other way round: galena is 13.40% sulfur and anglesite 10.57%, because anglesite’s four oxygens add mass. What marks the sulfate is the oxygen, 21.10% of anglesite and none of galena. The other mineral-class pages, is calcite a silicate, is sylvite a halide and is enargite a sulfosalt, work the same kind of question for other classes.
Anglesite is a mineral containing which element? Lead
Lead, sulfur and oxygen. Worked from Pb(SO4) with Pb 207.2, S 32.06 and O 15.999, the formula mass is 303.256: lead 68.33%, sulfur 10.57%, oxygen 21.10%. As oxides that is PbO 73.60 and SO3 26.40. The sheet prints no analysis of its own: “Modern analyses are lacking; identification depends on coincidence of X-ray and optical properties with those of the synthetic compound.”
An ore of which metal: lead. The sheet’s Occurrence field reads “Common in the oxidized zone of lead deposits, where it may constitute an important ore”, word for word the sentence on the cerussite sheet. At 68.33% it carries less lead per gram than cerussite (77.54%) or galena (86.60%); 1.464 kg of anglesite holds 1 kg of lead. Which lead minerals the sheets call ore is set out on what metal is cerussite an ore of; the galena rind arithmetic is on anglesite.
With galena. The sheet records anglesite “banded around a core of galena”, and names galena last among its associates, after cerussite, leadhillite, lanarkite, caledonite, linarite and others. It prints no reaction, so this page states none.
Anglesite, baryte and celestine: the barite group
Three sheets, one group. The anglesite, baryte and celestine sheets each print “Mineral Group: Barite group”, and each gives orthorhombic, space group Pnma, Z = 4, with cleavage on {001} first. Worked from the printed cells, anglesite’s volume is 318.62 cubic ångströms, 8.17% smaller than baryte’s 346.97 and 3.73% larger than celestine’s 307.17. Its formula is 29.94% heavier than baryte’s, which is why it is the heaviest of the three: 6.38 against 4.50 and 3.97 measured.
Documented failure: anglesite’s own cell. On the same arithmetic, baryte’s cell gives 4.468 against its printed calculated 4.47, and celestine’s 3.972 against 3.98. Anglesite’s gives 6.322 against the printed 6.36, and against 6.38 measured. The sheet does not say which cell its calculated figure came from; the page reports the arithmetic and does not correct the sheet.
Weight in water. A 20.00 g piece reads 16.87 g as anglesite, 15.56 g as baryte and 14.96 g as celestine, on the method at how to measure specific gravity at home, the same figures as on the baryte and celestine pages. Calcium sulfate, anhydrite, Ca(SO4), is another of the six single-element sulfate rows on the IMA list.
Was anglesite named after Anglesey?
Yes, on the sheet’s wording. The Name field reads “For its occurrence on the island of Anglesey, Wales”, and the Distribution field opens “from Parys Mountain, Anglesey, Wales.” The IMA list gives only the country, the United Kingdom, and the year 1832; the sheet marks no type locality, so this page claims none for Parys Mountain. The term is explained at what is a type locality.
Other British localities on the sheet. Matlock and Cromford, Derbyshire; Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria; and Leadhills and Wanlockhead, Scotland. Abroad it names very large crystals from Tsumeb and the Kombat mine, Namibia, fine crystals at the Touissit mine, Morocco, and large crystals from Broken Hill.
Lead. Anglesite is 68.33% lead. Hazard questions go to is galena toxic and toxic minerals in a collection; this page is not health or safety advice. More guides are in the collecting guides. We hold no catalogue and nothing here is offered for sale; the wanted list is the only commercial route.