Michenerite

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Michenerite
Michenerite, Chalcopyrite-815089.jpg
Silvery michenerite crystal in gold-colored chalcopyrite from the Vermilion Mine, Denison Township (Ontario) , Canada (size of the largest crystal: 0.5 mm)
General and classification
chemical formula PdBiTe
Mineral class
(and possibly department) 		Sulfides and sulfosalts
System no. to Strunz
and to Dana 		2.EB.25 ( 8th edition : II / C.05)
02.12.03.11
Crystallographic Data
Crystal system cubic
Crystal class ; symbol tetrahedral-pentagon-dodecahedral; 23
Space group P 2 1 3 (No. 198)Template: room group / 198
Lattice parameters a  = 6.64  Å
Formula units Z  = 4
Physical Properties
Mohs hardness 2.5 (VHN 25 = 306-317)
Density (g / cm 3 ) measured: ≈ 9.5; calculated: ≈ 10.0
Cleavage shell-like
Break ; Tenacity brittle
colour silver-white to gray-white
Line color black
transparency opaque
shine Metallic luster

Michenerite is a rather seldom occurring mineral from the mineral class of " sulfides and sulfosalts " with the chemical composition PdBiTe, which consists of equal parts of palladium , bismuth and tellurium . From a chemical point of view, the mineral is one of the tellurides related to sulphides .

Michenerite crystallizes in the cubic crystal system , but develops only microscopic crystals in granular mineral aggregates . The mineral is opaque in every form and from silver-white to gray-white color with a metallic sheen on the surfaces. However, it leaves a black line on the whiteboard .

Etymology and history

Michenerite was first discovered together with Froodit in the Frood Mine near McKim (Township) (now Greater Sudbury ) in the Sudbury Basin in the Canadian province of Ontario . However, since mineral samples from the nearby Vermilion Mine near Denison (Township) (today also Greater Sudbury) were used to analyze the composition of michenerite , this location is considered a co- type locality for this mineral.

Michenerite was analyzed and described for the first time in 1958 by James Edwin Hawley and Leonard G. Berry . They named the mineral after Charles Edward Michener (1907-2004), on the one hand to honor his discovery of many important ore deposits, but also because he was the first to discover and study the new mineral.

classification

Already in the outdated 8th edition of the mineral classification according to Strunz , the michenerite belonged to the mineral class of "sulfides and sulfosalts" and there to the department of sulfides with the molar ratio "metal (M): sulfur (S) <1: 1" (more precisely M: S = 1: 2), where together with aurostibite , cattierite , geversite , hauerite , laurite , penroseit , pyrite , sperrylite , trogtalite , vaesite and villamanínite the "pyrite series" with the system no. II / C.05 formed.

In the Lapis mineral directory according to Stefan Weiß, which, out of consideration for private collectors and institutional collections, is still based on this classic system of Karl Hugo Strunz , the mineral was given the system and mineral number. II / D.17-180 . Also in the "Lapis system" this corresponds to the sulfides department with the molar ratio "Metal: S, Se, Te <1: 1", where michenerite together with aurostibite, cattierite, changchengite , dzharkenite , erlichmanite , fukuchilite , geversite, hauerite, Insizwait , Krutaite , Laurit, Maslovit , Mayingit , Padmait , Penroseite, pyrite, Sperrylith, Testibiopalladit , Trogtalit, Vaesit and Villamanínit the "pyrite group" with the system number. II / D.15 forms (as of 2018).

The 9th edition of Strunz's mineral systematics , which has been valid since 2001 and updated by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) until 2009, classifies michenerite in the newly defined division of "metal sulfides with a molar ratio of M: S ≤ 1: 2". This is further subdivided according to the exact molar ratio and the predominant metals in the compound, so that the mineral can be found in the sub-section "M: S = 1: 2, with Fe, Co, Ni, PGE etc." according to its composition where it together with Changchengit, Cobaltit , Gersdorffit-P213 , Gersdorffit-Pa3 , Gersdorffit-Pca21 , Hollingworthit , Irarsit , Jolliffeit , Kalungait , Krutovit , Maslovit, Mayingit, Milotait , Padmait, Platarsit , Testibiopalladit, Tolovkit , Ullmannit and Willyamit the " Gersdorffitgruppe "with the system no. 2.EB.25 forms.

The systematics of minerals according to Dana , which is mainly used in the English-speaking world , assigns michenerite to the class of "sulfides and sulfosalts" and there to the department of "sulfide minerals". Here it is in the " cobaltite group (cubic or pseudocubic crystals) " with the system no. 02.12.03 within the subsection "Sulphides - including selenides and tellurides - with the composition A m B n X p , with (m + n): p = 1: 2".

Crystal structure

Michenerite crystallizes cubically in the space group P 2 1 3 (space group no. 198) with the lattice parameter a  = 6.64  Å and four formula units per unit cell . Template: room group / 198

Education and Locations

Michenerit forms in copper-nickel sulphide deposits , where it in Paragenesis host of other sulphide minerals such as chalcopyrite , Cubanit , Hessit , Hollingworthit , Kotulskit , Melonit , Merenskyit , Moncheit , pentlandite , pyrrhotite , Sobolevskit , Sperrylith and Testibiopalladit may occur .

As a rather rare mineral formation, michenerite can sometimes be abundant at different sites, but overall it is not very common. So far around 120 sites (as of 2016) have been documented for the mineral. In addition to its type localities Frood Mine and Vermilion Mine, the mineral was found in many other mines in the Sudbury District . In Ontario there are also some localities in the Kenora and Thunder Bay districts . Other Canadian provinces with known localities are Manitoba , New Brunswick , Newfoundland and Labrador , Québec , Saskatchewan and Yukon .

In Europe, michenerite has so far only been found in the porphyry copper deposits of the Elatsite mine near Slatiza ( Zlatitsa ) in Bulgaria, in a few places in the Finnish landscapes of Lapland , Northern Ostrobothnia and Pirkanmaa , in the area around Korydallos in the Pindos Mountains in Greece ultramafitic PGE deposit on Raudberg in the Stølsheimen area belonging to Vik in the Norwegian province of Vestland , at several locations in the Murmansk Oblast on the Russian Kola peninsula such as in the Fedorovo-Pansky massif , the Monche Tundra and on Mount General ' skaya , in the Aguablanca (also Agua Blanca ) nickel mine near Monesterio in the Spanish province of Badajoz , in a disused copper-nickel deposit near Rožany ( Rosenhain ) / Šluknov in the north and in the gabbro - peridotite massif near Staré Ransko (Altransko) / Krucemburk in the middle of the Czech Republic as well as in the vicinity of Newton Stewart and on the Isle of Rum in Scotland (United Kingdom).

Other locations include Egypt , Argentina , Australia , Botswana , Brazil , China , Ivory Coast , India , Kazakhstan , Madagascar , Russia , Zimbabwe , South Africa , the United States and Vietnam .

See also

literature

  • JE Hawley, LG Berry: Michenerite and froodite, palladium bismuthide minerals . In: The Canadian Mineralogist . tape 6 , 1958, pp. 200–209 (English, available online at rruff.info [PDF; 768 kB ; accessed on October 25, 2017]).
  • LJ Cabri, DC Harris, RI Gait: Michenerite (PdBiTe) redefined and froodite (PdBi 2 ) confirmed from the Sudbury area . In: The Canadian Mineralogist . tape 11 , 1973, p. 903–912 (English, available online at rruff.info [PDF; 713 kB ; accessed on March 28, 2019]).
  • Jerry D. Childs, SR Hall: The crystal structure of michenerite, PdBiTe . In: The Canadian Mineralogist . tape 12 , 1973, p. 61–65 (English, available online at rruff.info [PDF; 574 kB ; accessed on March 28, 2019]).

Web links

Commons : Michenerite  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Hugo Strunz , Ernest H. Nickel : Strunz Mineralogical Tables. Chemical-structural Mineral Classification System . 9th edition. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung (Nägele and Obermiller), Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-510-65188-X , p.  105 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Michenerite . In: John W. Anthony, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, Monte C. Nichols (Eds.): Handbook of Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America . 2001 ( available online at handbookofmineralogy.org [PDF; 61  kB ; accessed on March 28, 2019]).
  3. ↑ James Edwin Hawley, Leonard Gascoigne Berry: Michenerite and froodite, palladium bismuthide minerals [Ontario] . In: The Canadian Mineralogist . tape 6 , no. December 2 , 1958 (English, researchgate.net [accessed October 25, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Stefan Weiß: The large Lapis mineral directory. All minerals from A - Z and their properties. Status 03/2018 . 7th, completely revised and supplemented edition. Weise, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-921656-83-9 .
  5. ↑ Ernest H. Nickel, Monte C. Nichols: IMA / CNMNC List of Minerals 2009. (PDF 1703 kB) In: cnmnc.main.jp. IMA / CNMNC, January 2009, accessed June 20, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Localities for Michenerite. In: mindat.org. Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Lars Petter Nilsson, Rune B. Larsen: Noble minerals in mafiske and ultramafiske bergarter - en oppsummering of platinum group minerals (PGM) funnet in Norway i de senere år . In: Kongsberg Mineralsymposium Norsk Bergverksmuseum Skrift . tape 14 , 1998, pp. 40–49 (Norwegian, nags.net [PDF; 5.1 MB ; accessed on August 8, 2020]).
  8. ↑ a b List of locations for michenerite in the Mineralienatlas and Mindat