Formula: CoAsS
Sulphide of cobalt and arsenic, forms a series with gersdorffite
Specific gravity: 6.33
Hardness: 5½
Streak: Greyish black
Colour: Reddish silver white, violet steel gray, or black.
Environments:
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Cobaltite is a secondary mineral that occurs in high-temperature hydrothermal
deposits, as disseminations, and as veins in contact metamorphosed rocks
(HOM, Webmin).
Associated minerals include allanite, calcite,
chalcopyrite, magnetite,
scapolite, skutterudite,
sphalerite, titanite and
zoisite
(Mindat).
At Neudorf in the Hartz mountains, Germany, cobaltite occurs in tetrahedrite -
tennantite, and also as inclusions in galena
(Minrec 43.1.32).
At Tunaberg, Sweden, cobaltite is associated with magnetite,
sphalerite, chalcopyrite,
skutterudite, allanite,
zoisite, scapolite,
titanite and calcite
(HOM).
At the Dolgellau Gold-belt, Gwynedd, Wales, UK, cobaltite ocurs in high to medium temperature veins where it is is early in the
paragenesis. It is associated with arsenopyrite and
pyrite, and often overgrown by, and forms inclusions in, later base-metal sulphides such as
pyrrhotite, sphalerite,
chalcopyrite and galena. It often has a coating
of supergene erythrite
(MW).
At the Blackbird mine, Lemhi county, Idaho, USA, cobaltite occurred as microscopic grains in
quartz with tourmaline and cobalt-rich
arsenopyrite; crystals to 5mm were also found disseminated in
quartz, associated with biotite,
chlorite and apatite
(Minrec 41.4.362).
Common impurities: Cu,Pb,Sb,Fe,Ni
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