Hemusite
| Hemusite | |
|---|---|
 Hemusite from Kawazu mine, Japan at National Natural History Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria | |
| General | |
| Category | Sulfosalt minerals, Sulfides |
| Formula (repeating unit) | Cu6SnMoS8 |
| Strunz classification | 2.CB.35a (10 ed) 2/C.09-10 (8 ed) |
| Dana classification | 2.9.6.1 |
| Crystal system | Isometric |
| Identification | |
| Color | gray |
| Mohs scale hardness | 4 |
| Luster | metallic |
| Diaphaneity | Opaque |
| Density | 4.469 |
| References | [1][2][3][4][5] |
Hemusite is a very rare isometric gray mineral containing copper, molybdenum, sulfur, and tin with chemical formula Cu6SnMoS8.[1] It was discovered by Bulgarian mineralogist Georgi Terziev in 1963. He also described it and named it after Haemus, the ancient name of Stara planina (Balkan) mountains in Europe. The type locality is Chelopech copper ore deposit, Bulgaria.[3] Later tiny deposits of hemusite were found in Ozernovskoe deposit, Kamchatka, Russia; Kawazu mine, Rendaiji, Shimoda city, Chūbu region, Honshu Island, Japan; Iriki mine, Iriki, Satsuma-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Region, Japan; Kochbulak deposit, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.[6] Hemusite occurs as rounded isometric grains and aggregates usually about 0.05 mm in diameter and in association with enargite, luzonite, colusite, stannoidite, renierite, tennantite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and other minerals.
See also
List of minerals approved by IMA
References
Further reading
- Shimizu, Masaaki; Kato, Akira; Matsubara, Satoshi (1988). "Hemusite and paraguanajuatite from the Kawazu mine, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan". Mineralogical Journal. 14 (3): 92. doi:10.2465/minerj.14.92.
