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Formula: PtBi2
Bismuthide, pyrite group
Specific gravity: 12.8 calculated
Hardness: 5 to 5½
Colour: Tin-white
Solubility:
Common impurities: Pd,Ni,Sn,Te
Environments
Localities
At the Sudbury Complex, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada, insizwaite occurs in
copper-nickel sulphide ore
(HOM).
At the type locality, Waterfall gorge, Insizwa, Alfred Nzo District, Eastern Cape, South Africa, insizwaite is
of hydrothermal origin, in a vein cutting massif pyrrhotite ore, where it occurs
as small rounded grains. Associated minerals include pentlandite,
cubanite, hessite,
altaite, argentopentlandite,
chalcopyrite, mackinawite,
niggliite, froodite,
parkerite, galena,
sphalerite, magnetite and
pyrrhotite
(MM 38.794-800, HOM).
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