Cinnabar, or cinnabarite, is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the brilliant red or scarlet pigment termed vermilion and associated red mercury pigments.
Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu5FeS4 that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic).
Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains the most important source of tin today.
Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver.
Sylvite, or sylvine, is potassium chloride (KCl) in natural mineral form. It forms crystals in the isometric system very similar to normal rock salt, halite (NaCl). The two are, in fact, isomorphous. Sylvite is colorless to white with shades of yellow and red due to inclusions. It has a Mohs hardness of 2.5 and a specific gravity of 1.99. It has a refractive index of 1.4903. Sylvite has a salty taste with a distinct bitterness.
Chalcocite, copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S), is an important copper ore mineral. It is opaque and dark gray to black, with a metallic luster. It has a hardness of 2.5–3 on the Mohs scale. It is a sulfide with a monoclinic crystal system.
Manganite is a mineral composed of manganese oxide-hydroxide, MnO(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system (pseudo-orthorhombic). Crystals of manganite are prismatic and deeply striated parallel to their length; they are often grouped together in bundles. The color is dark steel-grey to iron-black, and the luster brilliant and submetallic. The streak is dark reddish brown. The hardness is 4, and the specific gravity is 4.3. There is a perfect cleavage parallel to the brachypinacoid, and less-perfect cleavage parallel to the prism faces. Twinned crystals are not infrequent.
Alunite is a hydroxylated aluminium potassium sulfate mineral, formula KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6. It was first observed in the 15th century at Tolfa, near Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called aluminilite by J.C. Delamétherie in 1797, this name was contracted by François Beudant three decades later to alunite.
Alunogen (from French alun, "alum"), also called feather alum and hair salt is a colourless to white (although often coloured by impurities, such as iron substituting for aluminium) fibrous to needle-like aluminium sulfate mineral. It has the chemical formula Al2(SO4)3·17H2O.
Cohenite is a naturally occurring iron carbide mineral with the chemical structure (Fe, Ni, Co)3C. This forms a hard, shiny, silver mineral which was named by E. Weinschenk in 1889 after the German mineralogist Emil Cohen, who first described and analysed material from the Magura meteorite found near Slanica, Žilina Region, Slovakia. Cohenite is found in rod-like crystals in iron meteorites.
Jamesonite is a sulfosalt mineral, a lead, iron, antimony sulfide with formula Pb4FeSb6S14. With the addition of manganese it forms a series with benavidesite. It is a dark grey metallic mineral which forms acicular prismatic monoclinic crystals. It is soft with a Mohs hardness of 2.5 and has a specific gravity of 5.5 - 5.6. It is one of the few sulfide minerals to form fibrous or needle like crystals. It can also form large prismatic crystals similar to stibnite with which it can be associated. It is usually found in low to moderate temperature hydrothermal deposits.
Sugilite ( SOO-gə-lyte, -jee-) is a relatively rare pink to purple cyclosilicate mineral with the complex chemical formula KNa2(Fe, Mn, Al)2Li3Si12O30. Sugilite crystallizes in the hexagonal system with prismatic crystals. The crystals are rarely found and the form is usually massive. It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5–6.5 and a specific gravity of 2.75–2.80. It is mostly translucent. Sugilite was first described in 1944 by the Japanese petrologist Ken-ichi Sugi (1901–1948) for an occurrence on Iwagi Islet, Japan, where it is found in an aegirine syenite intrusive stock. It is found in a similar environment at Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. In the Wessels mine in Northern Cape Province of South Africa, sugilite is mined from a strata-bound manganese deposit. It is also reported from Liguria and Tuscany, Italy; New South Wales, Australia and Madhya Pradesh, India.
Lepidocrocite, also called esmeraldite or hydrohematite, is an iron oxide-hydroxide mineral. Lepidocrocite has an orthorhombic crystal structure, a hardness of 5, specific gravity of 4, a submetallic luster and a yellow-brown streak. It is red to reddish brown and forms when iron-containing substances rust underwater. Lepidocrocite is commonly found in the weathering of primary iron minerals and in iron ore deposits. It can be seen as rust scale inside old steel water pipes and water tanks.
Hectorite is a rare soft, greasy, white clay mineral with a chemical formula of Na0.3(Mg,Li)3Si4O10(OH)2.
Santabarbaraite is an amorphous ferric hydroxy phosphate mineral hydrate that was discovered in Tuscany, Italy during 2000. It also can be found in Victoria, Australia and Lake Baikal, Siberia.
Campigliaite is a copper and manganese sulfate mineral with a chemical formula of Cu4Mn(SO4)2(OH)6·4H2O. It has a chemical formula and also a crystal structure similar to niedermayrite, with Cd(II) cation replacing by Mn(II). The formation of campigliaite is related to the oxidation of sulfide minerals to form sulfate solutions with ilvaite associated with the presence of manganese. Campigliaite is a rare secondary mineral formed when metallic sulfide skarn deposits are oxidized. While there are several related associations, there is no abundant source for this mineral due to its rare process of formation. Based on its crystallographic data and chemical formula, campigliaite is placed in the devillite group and considered the manganese analogue of devillite. Campigliaite belongs to the copper oxysalt minerals as well followed by the subgroup M=M-T sheets. The infinite sheet structures that campigliaite has are characterized by strongly bonded polyhedral sheets, which are linked in the third dimension by weaker hydrogen bonds.
Guettardite is a rare arsenic-antimony lead sulfosalt mineral with the chemical formula Pb(Sb,As)2S4. It forms gray black metallic prismatic to acicular crystals with monoclinic symmetry. It is a dimorph of the triclinic twinnite.
Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, NiS. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general lack of association with pyrite or pyrrhotite.
Dessauite-(Y) is a mineral member of the crichtonite group with the formula (Sr,Pb)(Y,U)(Ti,Fe3+
)
20O
38. It is associated with derbylite, hematite, rutile, karelianite, siderite, and calcite. Founded in the Buca della Vena Mine, Tuscany, Italy, the mineral was called dessauite in honor of professor Gabor Dessau (1907–1983).
Sasso Pisano is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina, province of Pisa. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 213.
