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Formula: Ni9BiSbS8
Sulphosalt, hauchecornite group
Crystal System: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 6.35 to 6.47 measured, 6.58 calculated
Hardness: 5
Streak: Grey-black
Colour: Light bronze-yellow
Common impurities: Co,Fe,As
Environments
Localities
At the Vermilion Mine, Denison Township, Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, hauchecornite occurs mostly as
irregular masses up to 10 mm across, occasionally as tabular crystals up to 2 X 20 mm embedded in
chalcopyrite and, rarely, as subhedral crystals exhibiting crystal
faces several millimetres across. The hauchecornite is brass-coloured, resembling
pyrrhotite but slightly darker. It possesses a bright metallic lustre on
fresh surfaces and exhibits conchoidal fracture. Hauchecornite is associated most commonly with
chalcopyrite. Other minerals in the ore are
millerite, pyrrhotite,
gersdorffite, pyrite,
gold, nickeline,
galena, native copper and
sperrylite. Michenerite and
froodite also have been identified. Hauchecornite from the
Vermilion mine appears to be free of inclusions
(CM 11.4.819-825).
At the Strathcona Mine, Levack Township, Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, hauchecornite occurs as irregular
grains up to 150 microns, associated with chalcopyrite and
millerite
(CM 11.4.819-825).
At the type locality, the Friedrich Mine, Steckenstein, Mittelhof, Wissen, Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany, tetragonal, tabular, euhedral hauchecornite crystals, up to 4 mm on edge, occur on
millerite crystals. Electron microprobe study revealed inclusions of
millerite, bismuthinite,
galena, gold,
bismuth- and arsenic- bearing
ullmannite and antimony-bearing
gersdorffite
(CM 11.4.819-825).
Hauchecornite from the Friedrich Mine -
Image
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