At Hidalgo where it was initially discovered, it was found as dense white masses in alternating dikes of quartz latite and quartz monzonite alongside other secondary minerals such as sphalerite, arsenopyrite, cerussite and trace amounts of angelsite and alamosite, it was then rediscovered at other locations such as Australia where it occurs on oxidized shear zones above greywacke shales especially on the anticline prospects of the area, and on fine grained quartz-spessartine rocks in Broken Hill, Australia.

Hidalgoite is categorized under the trigonal crystal system and R3m space group and can be denoted by the H-M symbol (32/m).

[5] Hidalgoite specimens also contained some limonitic impurities which according to Smith accounts for the excess water in the structure.

It was initially discovered between large bodies of quartz dike as a white porous substance alongside other sulfates but has since been seen in other parts of the world.

In Nye County, Nevada, hidalgoite is seen as clear prismatic crystals with other secondary lead minerals such as mimetite and beaudantite.

A special type of hidalgoite called phillipsbornite-hidalgoite was discovered at Tsumeb, Namibia as bladed yellow-green masses dotted with azurite crystals in large quartz matrix.