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Formula: CoSbS
Sulphide, löllingite group, paramorph of
paracostibite, cobalt and
antimony bearing mineral
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 6.89 calculated
Hardness: 6
Colour: Steel grey
Common impurities: Fe,Ni,As
Environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments most commonly
Costibite occurs in hydrothermal deposits formed at moderate temperatures, but it is also found in
contact metasomatic replacements and in epithermal
replacements, as well as in pegmatites
(Webmin).
Localities
At the type locality, the Consols Mine, Broken Hill, Broken Hill district, Yancowinna county, New South Wales,
Australia, costibite occurs
intimately intergrown with other hydrothermal sulphides and associated with
löllingite,
willyamite, dyscrasite,
ullmannite and pyrargyrite
(HOM ).
A section from a museum sample consisted of a zoned crystal of
willyamite-ullmannite
surrounded by a rim of
löllingite. The löllingite
contains costibite
lamellae up to 0.2 X 1.4 mm that appear to be oriented parallel to the sides of the
willyamite-ullmannite crystal.
Although some of the
costibite lamellae are very nearly in contact with willyamite,
there is either
löllingite or pyrargyrite
between them
(AM 55.10-17).
At the Gruvåsen and Getön mines, Persberg district, Filipstad, Värmland, Sweden, costibite occurs in
lead-zinc-copper-silver
ore deposits remobilised by hydrothermal solutions from later granite
emplacement. Associated
minerals include nisbite,
paracostibite,
chalcopyrite, bismuth,
pyrrhotite, galena,
sphalerite, gersdorffite and
ullmannite
(HOM).
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