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Formula: PtBi
Alloy of platinum and bismuth
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 12.91 calculated
Environments
Driekopite is a new mineral, approved in 2022 and to date (August 2023) reported only from the type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Driekop mine, Sekhukhuneland, Burgersfort, Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality, Sekhukhune
District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa, driekopite was found in a concentrate from the mine, one of three zoned
platinum pipes that crosscut layered
mafic and ultramafic
sequences. The holotype grain of driekopite (~ 22 x 13 microns in size) occurs in a complex, rounded aggregate
~120 microns across, in association with isoferroplatinum,
hollingworthite, geversite,
insizwaite,
andrieslombaardite,
stibiopalladinite,
sobolevskite, possible
tatyanaite, osmium-bearing
tulameenite and a
platinum-iron alloy.
The holotype grain of driekopite is observed to be paragenetically later than
isoferroplatinum and
hollingworthite and is considered to be synchronous with
bismuth-bearing geversite,
insizwaite,
andrieslombaardite and
sobolevskite. The entire aggregate containing these
platinum group minerals is overgrown by a rim of
tulameenite and a
platinum-iron alloy, indicating they
are paragenetically the last minerals to form.
Synthetic PtBi melts congruently at 765oC, suggesting that driekopite likely crystallised at
sub-magmatic temperatures
(CJMP 61.3.537-547).
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