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Formula: CaNi2Fe3+(PO4)3
Anhydrous phosphate
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 3.657 calculated
Hardness: 4
Streak: Yellowish white
Colour: Deep yellow to lemon-yellow
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, an Unnamed phosphorite quarry, Daba-Siwaqa complex, Transjordan Plateau, Amman
Governorate, Jordan, yakubovichite, a mineral new in 2021, containing up to 20 wt% NiO, represents a
novel type of terrestrial phosphate mineralisation featuring an extreme enrichment in
nickel. The mineral was discovered in the Hatrurim Formation
pyrometamorphic complex whose outcrops are exposed in Israel and Jordan in the area coincident with the Dead
Sea Transform fault system.
Nickel-rich minerals in these assemblages also include the nickel
phosphides halamishite,
negevite,
transjordanite,
orishchinite,
nazarovite and
polekhovskyite, as well as
trevorite, bunsenite and
nickeliferous members of the hematite -
eskolaite series, containing up to 2 wt% NiO.
Yakubovichite forms polycrystalline segregations up to 0.2 mm in size composed of equant crystal
grains, in association with crocobelonite,
hematite, and other phosphates and phosphides. It has a deep yellow
to lemon-yellow color, is transparent to translucent with vitreous luster, and has no cleavage
(AM 108. 2142-2150).
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