Niccolite
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|
| Niccolite | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Category | Mineral |
| Chemical formula | nickel arsenide:NiAs |
| Identification | |
| Color | Pale copper red with blackish tarnish |
| Crystal habit | dihexagonal-dipyramidal rare; massive columnar to reniform |
| Crystal system | Hexagonal |
| Cleavage | absent |
| Fracture | uneven |
| Mohs Scale hardness | 5 - 5.5 |
| Luster | metallic |
| Refractive index | opaque |
| Pleochroism | N/A |
| Streak | brownish black |
| Specific gravity | 7.8 |
| Fusibility | 2 |
| Solubility | ? |
| Other Characteristics | garlic odor on heating |
Niccolite or nickeline is a mineral consisting of nickel arsenide, NiAs, containing 43.9% nickel and 56.1% arsenic.
Small quantities of sulfur, iron and cobalt are usually present, and sometimes the arsenic is largely replaced by antimony. Forms an isomorphous series with breithauptite (nickel antimonide).
The names niccolite (J. D. Dana, 1868) and nickeline (F. S. Beudant, 1832) refer to the presence of nickel (Lat. niccolum). Owing to its copper-red color the mineral is commonly called "copper-nickel," the German equivalent of which, Kupfernickel, was used as early as 1694.
Associated minerals include: arsenopyrite, barite, silver, cobaltite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite, breithauptite and maucherite. Niccolite alters to annabergite (a coating of green nickel arsenate) on exposure to moist air.
The following are the members of the nickeline group:[1] (http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/sulfides/nickelin/nickelin.htm)
- Breithauptite: nickel antimonide, NiSb
- Freboldite: cobalt selenide, CoSe
- Imgreite: nickel telluride, NiTe
- Langistite: cobalt nickel arsenide, (Co,Ni)As
- Niccolite: nickel arsenide, NiAs
- Pyrrhotite: iron sulfide Fe1-xS
- Sederholmite: nickel selenide, NiSe
- Stumpflite: platinum antimonide bismuthinide, Pt(Sb,Bi)
- Sudburyite: palladium nickel antimonide, (Pd,Ni)Sb
References and external links
- Dana's Manual of Mineralogy ISBN 0471032883
- The mineral nickeline: Mineralgalleries.com (http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/sulfides/nickelin/nickelin.htm)
- Webmineral (http://webmineral.com/data/Nickeline.shtml)
- Mindat.org (http://www.mindat.org/min-2901.html)