Vaesite

NiS2
c 2001-2005 Mineral Data Publishing, version 1

Crystal Data:

Cubic. Point Group: 2/m 3.

As octahedra and cubes, to 1 cm, and massive.

Physical Properties:
Cleavage: {001}. Hardness = ∼3.5
D(meas.) = 4.45 D(calc.) = 4.47

VHN = 743–837 (100 g load).

Optical Properties: Opaque. Color: Black; pale violet-gray in reflected light.
Luster: Metallic to submetallic.
R: (400) 34.2, (420) 33.6, (440) 33.2, (460) 32.8, (480) 32.4, (500) 32.2, (520) 32.0, (540) 31.8,(560) 31.8, (580) 31.8, (600) 32.0, (620) 32.0, (640) 32.1, (660) 32.3, (680) 32.6, (700) 32.9
Cell Data:

Space Group: P a3. a = 5.66787(8) [=say if syn??;??5.670??Kasompi]

Z=4X-ray Powder Pattern: Kasompi mine, Congo.
2.83 (100), 1.707 (80), 1.091 (60), 2.00 (50), 2.54 (40), 2.32 (40), 1.003 (40)
Chemistry:NiCoFeS

(1)
41.24
3.41
2.20
53.15

(2)
47.9
1.1
2.6
48.4

(3)
47.79

52.21

Total 100.00
100.0
100.00(1) Kasompi mine, Congo; corresponding to (Ni0.86 Co0.07 Fe0.05 )Σ=0.98 S2.02 . (2) Kalgoorlie,Australia; by electron microprobe, corresponding to (Ni1.02 Fe0.06 Co0.02 )Σ=1.10 S1.90 . (3) NiS2 .
Polymorphism & Series:
Mineral Group:

Forms a series with cattierite.

Pyrite group.

Occurrence: Disseminated through dolostone (Kasompi mine, Congo); an alteration product ofarsenic-deficient nickel-skutterudite (Germany).
Association:

Arsenic-deficient nickel-skutterudite, pyrite, polydymite, uraninite.

Distribution: From the Kasompi mine, 70 km west-southwest of Kambove [TL], and atShinkolobwe, Katanga Province, Congo (Shaba Province, Zaire). From Schneeberg, Saxony;
Nentershausen, ??ck, and Iserlohn, ??ck, Germany. In the Providencia mine, near Villamanı́n,Cármenes district, León Province, Spain. From the Saint Marina deposit, Haskovo district, andat the Medet deposit, Panagyurishte district, Bulgaria. From the Agyatagsk mercury deposit,Kel’badzhar, Azerbaijan. At the Miliken (Sweetwater) mine, Reynolds Co., Missouri, and from theOrphan mine, in the Grand Canyon, Coconino Co., Arizona, USA. At the San Santiago mine, La
Rioja Province, Argentina. Found near the Scotia nickel deposit, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
At the Kosaka mine, Akita Prefecture, Japan.
Name: In honor of Johannes F. Vaes (1902–1978), mineralogist for the Union Minière du HautKatanga.
Type Material: [Columbia University, New York, now at American Museum of NaturalHistory, New York, New York, USA ?]References: (1) Kerr, P.F. (1945) Cattierite and vaesite: new Co–Ni minerals from the BelgianCongo. Amer. Mineral., 30, 483–497. (2) Ostwald, J. (1980) Notes on a Co–Ni disulphide and aCo–Ni–Fe thiospinel from the Kalgoorlie district, Western Australia. Mineral. Mag., 43, 950–951.
(3) Nowack, E., D. Schwarzenbach, and T. Hahn (1991) Charge densities in CoS2 and NiS2 (pyritestructure). Acta Cryst., 650–659. [in cattierite??should be??ck cell and syn??] (4) Berry, L.G.
and R.M. Thompson (1962) X-ray powder data for the ore minerals. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem. 85,93–94. (5) Ramdohr, P. (1969) The ore minerals and their intergrowths, (3rd edition), 815–816.
(6) Criddle, A.J. and C.J. Stanley, Eds. (1993) Quantitative data file for ore minerals, 3rd ed.
Chapman & Hall, London, 599.
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