Bismutohauchecornite - Occurrence, Properties, and Distribution

Bismutohauchecornite is a tetragonal-ditetragonal dipyramidal bronze mineral, containing sulfur, nickel, and bismuth. It belongs to the hauchecornite group of minerals.

The mineral was first discovered in 1980 from the Oktyabr mine in Norilsk, Russia. It was named for its relationship to hauchecornite.

Properties of Bismutohauchecornite

The following are the key properties of Bismutohauchecornite:

• Cell Data
  • Space Group: P4/mmm
  • a = 7.37
  • c = 5.88
  • Z = [1]

• Crystal Data
  • Tetragonal
  • Point Group: 4/m 2/m 2/m
  • As elongated tabular crystals, to 0.3mm; as grains and massive
  • X-ray Powder Pattern: 2.80 (10), 1.867 (8), 4.34 (6), 2.40 (6), 2.32 (6), 3.67 (5), 1.808 (4)

• Chemical Composition

  Elements	Content 1	Content 2	Content 3
  Ni	43.6	45.85	43.93
  Bi	33.9	27.76	34.75
  S	21.4	22.46	21.32
  Co	0.8	0.66	-
  As	0.5	0.72	-
  Fe	0.2	0.22	-
  Pb	-	0.01	-
  Total	100.4	97.68	100

• Optical Properties
  • Anisotropism: Weak in reflected light

• Estimated Properties

  Electron density	Bulk density (electron density) = 5.67 g/cm3 note: Specific gravity of Bismutohauchecornite = 6.25 g/cm3
  Photoelectric	PEBismutohauchecornite = 635.91 barns/electron U = PEBismutohauchecornite x ρ Electron density = 3608.61 barns/cm3
  Fermion index	Fermion index = 0.006 Boson index = 0.99
  Radioactivity	Bismutohauchecornite is not radioactive

How to Identify Bismutohauchecornite

Bismutohauchecornite is a bronze-colored mineral, with metallic luster, grayish-black streak, and opaque appearance. It can be formed as tabular structures, or massive uniformly indistinguishable crystals forming large masses.

The hardness of the mineral is 5.5.

Global Distribution

Bismutohauchecornite is distributed in the following places:

• Oktyabr mine, Talnakh area, Norilsk region, western Siberia, Russia
• Zimmer Lake, northern Saskatchewan, Canada
• Mihara mine, Okayama Prefecture, and the Tsumo mine, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
• Liu Zhuang, Tongbai Co. Henan Province, China

Occurrence of Bismutohauchecornite and Useful Mineral Association

Bismutohauchecornite occurs in ultramafic rocks. It can be formed as secondary pore-fillings, and replacements of sandstone and conglomerate.

The mineral is closely related to millerite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, altaite, pentlandite, galena, and chalcocite.

References

• Bismutohauchecornite – Mindat
• Bismutohauchecornite Mineral Data – Webmineral
• Bismutohauchecornite.pdf - Rruff Project Website - University of Arizona