[6] Structurally, it is a "linear-chain" compound with alternating bonding and nonbonding contacts between the vanadium centers.

[7] The mineral was first described in 1906 for an occurrence in the Minas Ragra vanadium mine near Junín, Cerro de Pasco, Peru.

[3][4] At the type locality in Peru it occurs in fissures within a red shale likely derived from an asphaltum deposit.

Associated minerals include, native sulfur, bravoite, pyrite, minasragrite, stanleyite, dwornikite, quartz and vanadium bearing lignite.

[4] It has also been reported from the Yushkinite gorge on the Middle Silova-Yakha River on the Paikhoi Range of the polar Urals of Russia and from the Tsumeb mine in Namibia.