Vulcanite

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Vulcanite
Vulcanite.png
Vulcanite from Good Hope Mine, Colorado, U.S.
General
Category Telluride mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
CuTe
IMA symbol Vul [1]
Strunz classification 2.CB.75
Crystal system Orthorhombic
Crystal class Dipyramidal (mmm)
H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group Pmnm
Identification
ColorPale to yellow bronze
Crystal habit Massive, granular, tabular
Twinning Common
Cleavage [hk0] Good, [h0l] Indistinct
Fracture Sectile – Curved shavings or scrapings produced by a knife blade
Mohs scale hardness1–2
Luster Metallic
Diaphaneity Opaque
Specific gravity 7.1
Pleochroism Very strong, bright yellow to blue-gray
Fusibility 1.5
References [2] [3] [4]

Vulcanite is a rare copper telluride mineral. The mineral has a metallic luster, and has a green or bronze-yellow tint. It has a hardness between 1 and 2 on the Mohs scale (between talc and gypsum). Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.

Vulcanite is named for the place where it was discovered in 1961, the Mammoth Good Hope Mine in Vulcan (ghost town and district), Gunnison County, Colorado. [4] Small deposits have also been discovered in Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Norway. It occurs with native tellurium, rickardite, petzite, and sylvanite.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petzite</span> Telluride mineral

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calaverite</span> Telluride of gold

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvanite</span> Silver gold telluride

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altaite</span> Yellowish white telluride mineral

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krennerite</span> Gold telluride mineral

Krennerite is an orthorhombic gold telluride mineral which can contain variable amounts of silver in the structure. The formula is AuTe2, but specimen with gold substituted by up to 24% with silver have been found ([Au0.77Ag0.24]Te2). Both of the chemically similar gold-silver tellurides, calaverite and sylvanite, are in the monoclinic crystal system, whereas krennerite is orthorhombic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rickardite</span>

Rickardite is a telluride mineral, a copper telluride (Cu7Te5) or Cu3-x (x = 0 to 0.36)Te2. It was first described for an occurrence in the Good Hope Mine, Vulcan district, Gunnison County, Colorado, US, and named for mining engineer Thomas Arthur Rickard (1864–1953). It is a low temperature hydrothermal mineral that occurs associated with vulcanite, native tellurium, cameronite, petzite, sylvanite, berthierite, pyrite, arsenopyrite and bornite.

Weissite is a telluride mineral, a copper telluride. Its chemical formula is Cu
2−x
Te
. Weissite has hexagonal crystal structure. Its specific gravity is 6 and its Mohs hardness is 3. Occurrence is in Gunnison County, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. It is also reported from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and Dalarna and Värmland, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melonite</span>

Melonite is a telluride of nickel; it is a metallic mineral. Its chemical formula is NiTe2. It is opaque and white to reddish-white in color, oxidizing in air to a brown tarnish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telluride mineral</span>

A telluride mineral is a mineral that has the telluride anion as a main component.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tellurobismuthite</span>

Tellurobismuthite, or tellurbismuth, is a telluride mineral: bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3). It crystallizes in the trigonal system. There are natural cleavage planes in the (0001) direction as the crystal is effectively lamellar (layered) in that plane. The Mohs hardness is 1.5 – 2 and the specific gravity is 7.815. It is a dull grey color, which exhibits a splendent luster on fresh cleavage planes.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empressite</span>

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Coloradoite, also known as mercury telluride (HgTe), is a rare telluride ore associated with metallic deposit. Gold usually occurs within tellurides, such as coloradoite, as a high-finess native metal.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kostovite</span>

Kostovite is a rare orthorhombic-pyramidal gray white telluride mineral containing copper and gold with chemical formula AuCuTe4.

Honeaite is a rare gold thallium telluride mineral with the formula Au3TlTe2. It was discovered in the Karonie mine, Cowarna Downs Station, Western Australia, although this is not the only locality for the mineral.

Bilibinskite is an Au – Cu – Pb telluride. It is a rare mineral that was named after Soviet geologist Yuri Bilibin (1901–1952), who researched the geology of gold deposits during the time of the USSR.

References

  1. Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi: 10.1180/mgm.2021.43 . S2CID   235729616.
  2. "Vulcanite" in Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America
  3. Vulcanite Mineral Data. Webmineral
  4. 1 2 Vulcanite. Mindat