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Formula: Pb8Bi10(S,Se)23
Sulphosalt, bismuth and selenium bearing
mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 7.12
Hardness: 2 to 2½
Streak: Black
Colour: Light lead-grey
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Fumeroles
Localities
At La Fossa crater, Vulcano Island, Lipari, Eolie Islands, Messina Province, Sicily, Italy, wittite and
cannizzarite were found together around high-temperature fumaroles.
Wittite was revealed only in samples collected around the fumarole vent F11 at a temperature of sampling of about
450°C, in association with bismuthinite. Wittite forms aggregates of very
tiny sheaves of slightly divergent, bladed crystals up to 2 mm in length. Tiny crystals of
selenium-bearing galena occur sparingly
on some of the wittite
(CM 38.23-34).
The first recorded locality for wittite was the Falun mine, Falun, Dalarna County, Sweden. Here wittite occurs
in an amphibolite rock associated with
nordströmite, friedrichite,
magnetite, pyrite,
cordierite and quartz
(HOM).
At Middlemarch Canyon, Middle Pass District, Dragoon Mts, Cochise county, Arizona, USA, wittite occurs in
garnet tactite
(HOM).
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