Kieftite

kieftite

chalcopyrite

gudmundite

tetrahedrite

Images

Formula: CoSb3
Antimonide of cobalt, skutterudite subgroup, non-stoichiometric perovskites group, perovskite supergroup
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 7.2 measured, 7.63 calculated
Hardness: 5 to 5½
Streak: Grey
Colour: Tin-white
Common impurities: Ni,Fe,Cu,Cl
Environments

Metamorphic environments

Localities

At the type locality, the Tunaberg Cu-Co Ore Field, Tunaberg, Nyköping, Södermanland County, Sweden, mineralisation occurs in a metamorphosed tuffite formation in the upper part of a volcano-sedimentary sequence metamorphosed to the upper amphibolite facies. A central zone of Cu-Co-sulphide skarn ores is hosted by "skarned" marble, and a peripheral zone of Zn-Pb-sulphide ores hosted by metamorphosed tuffite, graphitic slate and marble.
Kieftite was found in polished sections of chalcopyrite-rich ore collected from dumps and exposed rocks at the abandoned mine, in Cu-Co-sulphide skarn ores of the central zone. Kieftite forms subhedral to euhedral crystals up to 400 microns across in aggregates enclosed in chalcopyrite, that occur associated with bornite, galena, native bismuth, native silver, gudmundite and tetrahedrite. The kieftite may contain inclusions of chalcopyrite, native bismuth and dyscrasite. Other minerals identified in kieftite-bearing specimens include allargentum, antimony, arsenopyrite, breithauptite, cobaltite, costibite/paracostibite, covellite, cubanite, electrum, graphite, molybdenite, nisbite, safflorite, sphalerite, stannoidite and uraninite (CM 32.1.179-183).

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