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Formula: Ni3(Bi,Pb)2S2
Sulphosalt, nickel- and bismuth- bearing
mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 8.4 measured, 8.50 calculated
Hardness: 2
Streak: Black
Colour: Pale bronze
Solubility: Soluble in concentrated nitric acid
Environments
Plutonic igneous environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Parkerite occurs in norite (Mindat) as grains in other
hydrothermal sulphides and arsenides. Associated minerals include
galena,
bismuth, bismuthinite,
tetradymite, hessite,
cubanite, maucherite,
nickeline, sperrylite,
gold, chalcopyrite,
pyrrhotite, pentlandite,
siegenite and bravoite
(HOM).
In pegmatitic or marginal parts of magmatic
nickeliferous pyrrhotite deposits,
parkerite is connected with pentlandite,
chalcopyrite, cubanite,
galena, bismuth-bearing minerals,
tellurides, sperrylite,
gold and many others
(Ramdohr p405).
Localities
There are two co-type localities, the Frood mine, McKim Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada, and the
Waterfall gorge,
Insizwa, Umzimvubu Local Municipality, Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
At the Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, parkerite occurs as small inclusions in
nickeline and is associated with native
bismuth
(CM 9.610-612).
At the Frood mine, McKim Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada (one of the type localities), Parkerite
is found in small stringers and veinlets in the extremities of the ore-body, where it occurs sparingly in
association with
galena, native bismuth,
bismuthinite, tetradymite,
hessite, cubanite,
maucherite, nickeline,
sperrylite and gold, together with
the prevailing chalcopyrite,
pyrrhotite
and pentlandite. The association with
galena
is particularly persistent and characteristic. As a group these minerals occur around the margins of the main
copper - nickel -
iron sulphides;
parkerite has not been found in the central part of the larger sulphide mass
(AM 28.343-355).
At the Langis Mine, Casey Township, Cobalt Area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, the
sulphides consist of two sub-assemblages, one of bravoite and
marcasite intimately intergrown and containing associated
chalcopyrite and
sphalerite, and the
other of bismuthinite,
cobaltpentlandite,
siegenite,
parkerite, bravoite and late
bravoite.
The parkerite occurs as a component of sulphide grains within
arsenides. The sulphide grains consist of
bismuthinite, parkerite,
native bismuth,
cobaltpentlandite,
siegenite and bravoits. The
parkerite generally surrounds native bismuth, and is either
intergrown with, or adjacent to,
bismuthinite. In some places it is surrounded by
cobaltpentlandite and
siegenite,
and in other places it is adjacent to these minerals. The parkerite grains are up to 0.5 mm in size
(CM 9.610-612).
At Waterfall gorge, Insizwa, Umzimvubu Local Municipality, Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape,
South Africa (one of the type localities), The parkerite occurs in
nickeliferous deposits and is associated with
galena, native bismuth,
nickeline, maucherite,
pentlandite, chalcopyrite
and sperrylite
(CM 9.610-612).
The North Mine, Devon United Mines, Peter Tavy, West Devon, Devon, England, UK, is situated within the metamorphic
aureole of the Dartmoor Granite with the country rock comprising
Carboniferous (358.9 to 298.9 million years ago) shale, metasediments
and greenstone.
Parkerite has been identified as grains up to 50 microns across in
quartz-fluorite veinstone.
Associated minerals include
sphalerite, ullmannite,
bismuth, bismite,
gersdorffite and
cassiterite
(M&M 25.19-22).
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