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Formula: [Ag6]4+(Ag4Fe2+2)Sb4S12◻
Sulphantimonite,
rozhdestvenskayaite subgroup,
tetrahedrite group
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 5.329 calculated
Colour: Black
Environments
Kenorozhdestvenskayaite-(Fe) is a new mineral, approved in 2022 and to date (September 2024) reported only
from the type locality
Localities
At the type locality, the Yindongpo Mine, Weishancheng ore field, Tongbai County, Nanyang, Henan, China,
kenorozhdestvenskayaite-(Fe) is a tetrahedrite group
mineral containing a natural [Ag6]4+ cluster. It occurs at the edges of
galena crystals as anhedral grains of 2 to 20 μm in size and is associated
with pyrargyrite, pyrrhotite
and siderite in the hydrothermal gold
deposit. The presence of the unusual mineral assemblages, ie pyrrhotite
and pyrargyrite, as well as the other keno-end-member
tetrahedrites, indicates a low sulphidation state for the
mineralisation stage, probably a result of the fluid boiling process in an open system that likely contributed to
the formation of S-deficient tetrahedrites.
[Ag6]4+ clusters are extremely rare in nature (only found in
silver-rich
tetrahedrite group minerals), but the kinds of natural
conditions that promote the formation of subvalent hexasilver clusters in
tetrahedrite group minerals are still unclear
(AM 109.7.1275-1283).
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