Jun 4 2014
Ardaite is a rare sulfosalt mineral, discovered in 1980 from Madjarovo, Arda River, Bulgaria.
It was named after its place of discovery.
Properties of Ardaite
The following are the key properties of Ardaite:
- Cell Data
- Space Group: n.d
- a = 21.09
- b = 22.11
- c = 8.05
- β = 103.02°
- Z = 2
- Crystal Data
- Monoclinic
- Point Group: n.d
- As aggregates of acicular crystals, to 2µm, as isolated inclusions in sulfides and sulfosalts
- X-ray Powder Pattern: 3.43 (100), 2.83 (80), 3.13 (40), 1.90 (30), 4.24 (20), 3.90 (20), 2.36 (20)
- Chemical Composition
| Elements |
Content 1 |
Content 2 |
Content 3 |
Content 4 |
| Pb |
56.50 |
57.94 |
57.14 |
59.37 |
| Sb |
22.48 |
21.44 |
22.97 |
20.94 |
| S |
15.56 |
15.44 |
16.29 |
15.62 |
| Cl |
3.78 |
4.39 |
3.60 |
4.06 |
| Ag |
0.04 |
- |
- |
- |
| Fe |
- |
0.31 |
- |
- |
| Total |
98.36 |
99.52 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
- Optical Properties
- Pleochroism: Distinct
- Anisotropism: Distinct
- Estimated Properties
| Electron density |
Bulk density (electron density) = 5.27 g/cm3
note: Specific gravity of Ardaite = 6.26 g/cm3 |
| Photoelectric |
PEArdaite = 1123.48 barns/electron
U = PEArdaite x ρElectron density = 5920.32 barns/cm3 |
| Fermion index |
Fermion index = 0.12
Boson index = 0.88 |
Radioactivity
|
Ardaite is not radioactive
|
How to Identify Ardaite
Ardaite is an opaque, green-gray mineral that is formed as aggregates, or needle-like crystals visible only with microscopes.
It has metallic luster, and a relative hardness ranging between 2.5 and 3.
Global Distribution
Ardaite is distributed in the following places:
- Madjarovo, eastern Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria
- Dressfall mine, Gruvasen, Bergslagen metallic province, Sweden
Occurrence of Ardaite and Useful Mineral Association
Ardaite occurs rarely in polymetallic ore deposits.
The minerals that are closely associated with ardaite include graphite, nisbite, arsenopyrite, antimony, silver, pyrargyrite, stannite, scheelite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, anglesite, argentian tetrahedrite, pyrostilpnite, chlorian semseyite, chlorian robinsonite, and galena.
References