tennantite
Sign in to saveAlso known as tennantite series, tennantite subgroup, julianite
Tennantite is a copper arsenic sulfosalt mineral with an ideal formula . Due to variable substitution of the copper by iron and zinc the formula is . It is gray-black, steel-gray, iron-gray or black in color. A closely related mineral, tetrahedrite ) has antimony substituting for arsenic and the two form a solid solution series. The two have very similar properties and is often difficult to distinguish between tennantite and tetrahedrite. Iron, zinc, and silver substitute up to about 15% for the copper site.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Tennantite
- Mineral.category
- Sulfosalt minerals
- Mineral.image
- Tennantite2.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 260px
- Mineral.strunz
- 2.GB.05
- Mineral.system
- Cubic
- Mineral.class
- Hextetrahedral (3m) H-M symbol: ( 3m)
- Mineral.symmetry
- I3m
- Mineral.color
- Flint-gray to iron-black, cherry-red in transmitted light
- Mineral.habit
- massive to well formed crystals
- Mineral.twinning
- Contact and penetration twins
- Mineral.cleavage
- None
- Mineral.fracture
- Subconchoidal to uneven
- Mineral.tenacity
- Somewhat brittle
- Mineral.mohs
- 34.5
- Mineral.luster
- Metallic, commonly splendent
- Mineral.streak
- reddish gray
- Mineral.polish
- gray, inclining to black to brown to cherry-red
via Wikipedia infobox
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Encyclopedic overview
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- References
Tennantite is a copper arsenic sulfosalt mineral with an ideal formula . Due to variable substitution of the copper by iron and zinc the formula is . It is gray-black, steel-gray, iron-gray or black in color. A closely related mineral, tetrahedrite ) has antimony substituting for arsenic and the two form a solid solution series. The two have very similar properties and is often difficult to distinguish between tennantite and tetrahedrite. Iron, zinc, and silver substitute up to about 15% for the copper site.
The mineral was first described for an occurrence in Cornwall, England in 1819, where it occurs as small crystals of cubic or dodecahedral form, and was named after the English chemist Smithson Tennant (1761–1815). thumb|left|180px|Tennantite from Ireland
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tennantite” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.