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Formula: Sn
Native element
Crystal system: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 7.31
Hardness: 1½ to 2
Streak: Grey-white
Colour: Tin-white
Solubility: Dissolves in acids and bases.
Abundance: Earth’s crust: 2.3 parts per million by weight, 0.4 parts per million by moles. Solar system: 9 parts per billion by weight,
0.1 parts per billion by moles (ChC)
Melting point: 231.928oC
Boiling point: 2620oC
Environments
Placer deposits rarely
Native tin occurs rarely as greyish metallic grains and nuggets to 1 cm in some placers,
kimberlite pipes or seafloor spreading zones
(Mindat, HOM).
In compounds tin is usually divalent, Sn2+ or tetravalent Sn4+ (ChC).
Associated minerals include platinum,
gold, copper,
sorosite and cassiterite
(HOM).
Localities
At Oued Berkou, Algeria, native tin occurs in greisen
(Dana).
At Oban, Australia, native tin occurs in placer sands
(Dana, Webmin).
At the Nesbitt LaBine Uranium mine, Beaverlodge Lake area, Saskatchewan, Canada,
pitchblende occurs in fractures cross-cutting a
slatey formation. Certain parts of the fractures are heavily mineralised
with calcite, hematite and
pitchblende. Associated with the
pitchblende are pyrite,
chalcopyrite, bornite,
chalcocite, covellite,
sphalerite, galena and
native tin. Samples from three separate veins on the first level and from one vein
on the second level of the mine are highly unusual in that they contain native tin
(AM 39.529-531).
Tin-bearing minerals include:
Alloys
paolovite
rustenburgite
sluzhenikinite
stistaite
Sulphides
berndtite
canfieldite
cernýite
herzenbergite
hocartite
kësterite
mawsonite
pirquitasite
stangersite
suredaite
teallite
vinciennite
Arsenides
palarstanide
Selenides
svetlanaite
Sulphosalts
cylindrite
franckeite
lévyclaudite
Oxides
cassiterite
jeanbandyite
romarchite
varlamoffite
wodginite
Hydroxides
burtite
natanite
schoenfliesite
tetrawickmanite
wickmanite
Hydroxyhalides
abhurite
Arsenates
yurgensonite
Nesosilicates
malayaite
Sorosilicates
kristiansenite
Inosilicates
stokesite
Phyllosilicates
eakerite
Cyclosilicates
pabstite
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