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Formula: Pb2(Sb,As)2S5
Sulphosalt, sartorite group,
antimony- and arsenic- bearing
mineral, forms a series with dufrénoysite
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 5.92 measured, 5.96 calculated
Hardness: 3½ to 4
Streak: Black with weak brown tint
Colour: Steel-grey
Solubility: KOH (40%) tarnishes veenite iridescent and nitric acid tarnishes it black
(Mindat)
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, the Taylor Pit (Madoc), Huntingdon Township, Centre Hastings Municipality, Hastings County,
Ontario, Canada, veenite occurs as small masses, stringers, and disseminated grains in
marble developed in a sequence of metasediments near a contact with
plutonic
granitic gneiss
(HOM).
Nearly all of the sulphosalt material consists of boulangerite and
jamesonite; tetrahedrite,
geocronite, and veenite are common but much less abundant.
Veenite does not occur in weathered specimens, but masses up to 3/4 inch diameter have been found in situ at
the site of the original prospect pit. Most veenite is massive or occurs as disseminated anhedral grains; the
only available single crystal is more than half a millimeter long. Massive veenite is steel-grey in colour
and resembles tetrahedrite
(CM 9.1.7-24).
Launayite has been observed only in polished sections, where it occurs
sparingly in association with veenite and boulangerite.
In thin sections, sterryite has been observed as needlelike laths which
cut veenite parallel to its direction of polysynthetic twinning, and as single anhedral grains also associated
with veenite
(CM 9.2.191-213).
The proposed paragenetic sequence for lead -
antimony - arsenic sulphosalts at
Madoc, oldest to youngest, is antimony-bearing
baumhauerite →
guettardite → veenite →
twinnite → sorbyite →
sterryite →
madocite → arsenic-bearing
boulangerite →
geocronite →
playfairite →
launayite →
boulangerite →
semseyite → robinsonite
→ zinkenite
(CM 9.4.505-521).
Veenite from the Taylor Pit (Madoc) -
Image
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