Mineralogical Magazine, October 2016, Vol. 80(6), pp. 985–994

Albertiniite, Fe2+(SO3)·3H2O, a new sulfite mineral species
from the Monte Falò Pb-Zn mine, Coiromonte, Armeno
Municipality, Verbano Cusio Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy
P. VIGNOLA1,2,*, G. D. GATTA2, N. ROTIROTI2, P. GENTILE3, F. HATERT4, M. BAIJOT4, D. BERSANI5, A. RISPLENDENTE2
2
AND A. PAVESE
1

CNR-Istituto per la Dinamica dei Processi Ambientali, via Botticelli 23, I-20133, Milano, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Botticelli 23, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
3
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e del Territorio e di Scienze della Terra, Università Milano-Bicocca, Piazzale della
Scienza 4-building U4, I-20126 Milano, Italy.
4
Laboratoire de Minéralogie, Département de Géologie, Université de Liège, Bâtiment B18, Sart Tilman, B-4000 Liège,
Belgium.
5
Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Parma, Viale G.P. Usberti 7/a, I-43124 Parma, Italy
2[Received 19 July 2015; Accepted 13 September 2015; Associate Editor: Stuart Mills]
ABSTR ACT

Albertiniite, Fe2+(SO3)·3H2O, is a new Fe2+ sulfite trihydrate, related chemically to gravegliaite. It occurs at theMonte Falò Pb-Zn mine near Coiromonte, in the Armeno Municipality, Verbano–Cusio–Ossola Province, Italy. It
is an intermediate product of oxidation between iron sulfides and sulfates, forming monoclinic, colourless to paleyellow, transparent crystals with a vitreous lustre. The mineral occurs associated with stolzite, pyromorphite,
hinsdalite, plumbogummite, gibbsite, scheelite and jarosite on brittle fractures of quartz veins or chlorite-schist.
Albertiniite is optically biaxial (+) with 2V(meas) ≈ 40° and 2V(calc) = 66°. The measured refractive indices, using
sodium light (589 nm) are: α = 1.612(2)°, β = 1.618(2)° and γ = 1.632(2)°. The optical axis plane is parallel to theperfect {010} cleavage plane. It is non-fluorescent under shortwave (254 nm) or longwave (366 nm) ultraviolet
light. The calculated density is 2.469 g cm–3 (from the crystal-structure refinement), or 2.458 g cm–3 (from thechemical analysis and the single-crystal unit-cell parameters). The empirical formula is (average of 16 spots and2þ
based on 3 anhydrous oxygen apfu) (Fe2þ
0:774 Mn0:282 Ca0.001Mg0.001Na0.003)∑1.061(S0.971O3)·2.84H2O, with theH2O content calculated by difference to 100 wt.%. Albertiniite is monoclinic, with space group P21/n. Its unit-cellparameters are: a = 6.633(1), b = 8.831(1), c = 8.773(1) Å, β = 96.106(8)° and V = 511.0(1) Å3,with Z = 4. The
eight strongest measured lines in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern are [d in Å, (I/I0), (hkl)]: 4.072 (100) (111),
3.539 (93) (112), 5.533 (27) (101), 6.167 (14) (011), 2.830 (14) (211), 4.998 (14) (101), 4.353 (12) (111) and3.897 (12) (012). The mineral, which has been approved by the CNMNC, number IMA2015-004, is named
albertiniite in honour of Claudio Albertini, an Italian mineral collector and expert in the systematic mineralogy of
the Alps and pegmatites.
K E Y WO R D S : albertiniite, Fe sulfite trihydrate, Monte Falò Pb-Zn mine, Verbania province, Italy, new mineral.

Introduction
MINERAL species belonging to the sulfite subgroup,oxide class in the classification of Strunz (Strunz*E-mail pietro.vignola@idpa.cnr.it
DOI: 10.1180/minmag.2016.080.033© 2016 The Mineralogical Society

and Nickel, 2001), are very rare in nature.
The four known species belonging to this subgroup are gravegliaite, Mn2+(SO3)·3H2O, hannebachite, Ca(SO3)·H2O, scotlandite, Pb(SO3) and thesulfate-sulfite orschallite, Ca3(SO3)2(SO4)·12H2O.
Gravegliaite and scotlandite can be considered asintermediate products of the oxidation process whichtransforms oxides and sulfides into sulfates, whereP. VIGNOLA ET AL.

FIG. 1. Albertiniite, crystal 0.4 mm × 0.25 mm fromMonte Falò. Co-type specimen at the Museum of
Natural History of Milano (catalogue number 38728).

FIG. 2. Back-scattered electron image of albertiniite fromMonte Falò.

hannebachite and orschallite crystallize in a moderately oxidizing hydrothermal environment.
Hannebachite and orschallite were found anddescribed for the first time in the magmatic rocksof the Eifel volcanic area (Palatinate, Germany)(Hentschel et al., 1985; Weidenthaler et al., 1993).
Scotlandite, more common in respect of the otherthree species, was described for the first time at theSusanna lead mine, Leadhills, Scotland (Paar et al.,1984), as a product of oxidation of galena and Pbsulfides. Gravegliaite was described as the product ofoxidation of the braunite + hausmannite + tephroite
mineralization at the Gambatesa Mn mine, Val

Graveglia, Italy, as micro-crystals along fractures in
the Mn mineralization (Basso et al., 1991).
Albertiniite is an iron sulfite trihydrate, related
chemically to gravegliaite. The mineral and its
name has been approved by the IMA Commission
on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification(IMA2015-004, Vignola et al., 2015). The mineral isnamed in honour of Claudio Albertini, an Italianmineral collector and expert in the systematic
mineralogy of the Alps and pegmatites. Claudio
Albertini is an author of several papers in theprincipal journals for mineral collectors and scientists, and he is author of the volume “L’Alpe Devero e

TABLE 1 Electron microprobe analysis of albertiniite.

SO2
FeO
MnO
CaO
MgO
Na2O
H2O
Total

Wt.%*

SD

Range

32.88
29.38
10.58
0.02
0.01
0.05
27.07
100

0.77
1.89
1.47
0.01
0.02
0.03

(31.54–33.95)(24.29–32.40)(8.60–14.46)(0.01–0.04)(0.00–0.08)(0.00–0.09)

apfu**
S
Fe2+
Mn2+
Ca
Mg
Na
OH−

0.971
0.774
0.282
0.001
0.001
0.003
2.84

*Average of 16 analyses.
**Calculated on the basis of 3 (anhydrous) oxygen apfu with H2O by difference
to 100 wt.%.
SD – standard deviation.

986

ALBERTINIITE, A NEW MINERAL SPECIES FROM MONTE FALÒ, ITALYi suoi minerali” on the worldwide famous locality of
Mount Cervandone. Claudio found, and proposed tothe scientific community, the new mineral species:
fetiasite (Graeser et al., 1994), albertiniite (presentwork) and a new phase still under investigation. Cotype samples used for the complete characterizationof the new species albertiniite are deposited in the
Mineralogical Collection of the Museo Civico di
Storia Naturale, Milano, Italy, (Fig. 1) (number MM
38728; co-type used for chemical analysis, paragenesis description, powder X-ray diffraction, Raman
spectroscopy), and in the collection of theLaboratory of Mineralogy, University of Liège,
Belgium (number 20393; co-type used for opticalmeasurements and single-crystal X-ray structure
determination).
Appearance and physical properties
Albertiniite was found by Claudio Albertini in 2010
on the mine dumps at the Monte Falò Pb-Zn mine
TABLE 2 Powder X-ray diffraction data for albertiniite.
I/I0

dobs

dcalc

hkl

14
27
11
14
100
12
12
93
10
10
9
7
14
8
4
4
4
6
5
3
3
4
3
2
2
3
2

6.167
5.533
5.257
4.998
4.721
4.353
3.897
3.539
3.29
3.076
2.994
2.873
2.83
2.759
2.23
2.183
2.169
2.115
2.022
2.003
1.912
1.873
1.862
1.819
1.665
1.416
1.413

6.205
5.554
5.284
5.008
4.702
4.356
3.909
3.515
3.297
3.089
3.008
2.894
2.824
2.761
2.232
2.18
2.166
2.116
2.02
2
1.913
1.872
1.863
1.817
1.666
1.416
1.412

011
1 0 1110
101
1 1 1
111012
1 1 2200
210
2 1 1
1 2 2211013
2 1 3004
2 3 1014
141
3 1 2
1 4 2
2 1 4142
2 4 1151
2 3 5422

The strongest lines are given in bold.

near Coiromonte, Armeno Municipality, VerbanoCusio-Ossola Province, Italy (45°50’52.37″N, 8°
29’1.13″E). The mine was active in the period 1920–
1953 and the tunnels (now collapsed) reached a total
length of ∼340 m. Galena was the most important
mined mineral, with minor sphalerite, arsenopyrite,
pyrite and marcasite (Albertini et al., 2014). The ore
is constituted by the aforementioned sulfides hosted
by quartz veins embedded in a chlorite-richmicaschist, characterized by an unusual secondary
mineral association of stolzite, pyromorphite,

TABLE 3 Details of the single-crystal X-ray datacollection and structure refinement of albertiniite.
Crystal shape
Crystal size (mm3)
Crystal colour

Irregular prism
0.180 × 0.150 × 0.090
Transparent,
colourless
T (K)
298
Unit-cell constants
a = 6.633 (1) Å
b = 8.831 (1) Å
c = 8.773 (1) Å
β = 96.106 (8)°V = 511.0 (1) Å3
Reference chemical formulaFe2+(SO3)·3H2OSpace Group
P21/n
Z
4
Radiation (Å)
MoKαDiffractometer
Xcalibur – CCD
Data-collection method
ω/j scanStep size (°) / Time per frame (s)1 / 10Max. θ (°)
72.33–8 < h < 8–14 < k < 14
–13 < l < 14
No. measured reflections
14,415
No. unique reflections
1668
1409
No. unique refl. with Fo > 4σ(Fo)No. refined parameters
92
Refinement on
F2
Rint*
0.0339R1 (F ) with Fo > 4σ(Fo)0.02270.0342R1 (F ) for all the uniquereflections
2wR2 (F )0.0429Goof
1.657
Weighting scheme: a, b
0.01, 0+0.504 / –0.494
Residuals (e Å–3)
2
2
2
– Fobs(mean) | / Σ [Fobs]; R1 = Σ(|Fobs| −*Rint = Σ | Fobs
22
2 2 0.5|Fcalc|)/Σ|Fobs|; wR2 = [Σ[w(Fobs – Fcalc )2]/Σ[w(Fobs) ]] ,
2
2) + (a*P)2 + b*P ], P = (Max (Fobs, 0) +
w = 1/ [σ2(Fobs
2
2*Fcalc)/3.

987

TABLE 4 Refined fractional coordinates and displacement parameters (Å2) in the expression: –2π2[(ha*)2U 11 + … + 2hka*b*U 12 + … + 2klb*c*U 23 ]. Ueq isdefined as one third of the trace of the orthogonalized Uij tensor*.
x/a

y/b

z/c

U 11

U 22

U 33

U 23

U 13

U 12

Ueq./iso

M
S
O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6

0.42944(4)0.82444(6)0.9551(2)0.7224(2)0.5211(2)0.1117(2)0.2667(2)0.3613(19)0.454(3)0.234(2)0.270(3)0.157(2)0.034(3)0.115(3)0.24709(2)0.07021(4)0.1986(1)0.1429(1)0.4623(1)0.3475(1)0.0461(1)0.1682(1)0.181(3)0.174(3)–0.002(2)0.023(2)0.311(3)0.453(1)0.14459(2)0.32605(4)0.4052(1)0.1794(1)0.2333(1)0.1431(1)0.0742(1)0.3745(1)0.461(2)0.403(2)–0.018(1)0.128(2)0.216(2)0.145(2)0.0124(1)0.0088(1)0.0150(7)0.0142(7)0.0175(7)0.0144(7)0.0301(8)0.0127(7)0.01203(9)0.0135(1)0.0193(5)0.0242(5)0.0124(5)0.0156(5)0.0224(6)0.0244(6)0.01331(11)0.0118(2)0.0151(5)0.0157(5)0.0197(5)0.0183(5)0.0177(6)0.0119(5)0.00146(8)–0.0004(1)–0.0058(4)–0.0006(4)–0.0005(4)0.0006(4)–0.0066(4)0.0013(5)0.00112(9)0.0019(1)0.0015(5)–0.0025(5)0.0041(5)0.0010(5)0.0071(5)0.0001(5)0.00001(9)–0.0001(1)–0.0027(5))
0.0074(5)–0.0040(4)–0.0004(5)–0.0098(6)0.0001(5)0.0126(1)0.0113(1)0.0165(2)0.0183(2)0.0164(2)0.0161(2)0.0231(3)0.0164(2)0.050(3)0.050(3)0.050(3)0.050(3)0.050(3)0.050(3)* The M site was modelled with the scattering curve of Fe.

P. VIGNOLA ET AL.

988

Site

ALBERTINIITE, A NEW MINERAL SPECIES FROM MONTE FALÒ, ITALYTABLE 5 Refined bond distances (Å) and angles (°).
M–O1
M–O2
M–O3
M–O4
M–O5
M–O6

2.178(1)2.143(1)2.118(1)2.285(1)2.134(1)2.222(1)O1–M–O2
O1–M–O3
O1–M–O4
O1–M–O5
O1–M–O6
O2–M–O3
O2–M–O4
O2–M–O5
O2–M–O6
O3–M–O4
O3–M–O5
O3–M–O6
O4–M–O5
O4–M–O6
O5–M–O6

93.99(4)96.19(4)94.32(4)89.62(4)170.97(4)96.45(4)171.66(4)96.16(5)90.00(4)83.25(4)165.70(5)91.40(4)83.29(5)81.68(4)81.89(4)

S–O1
S–O2
S–O3

1.546(1)1.529(1)1.530(1)O6–H1
H1···O4
O6···O4
O6–H1···O4

0.93(2)
1.83(2)2.73(1)164(1)

O6–H2
H2···O1
O6···O1
O6–H2···O1
H1–O6–H2

0.92(1)1.86(1)2.76(1)164(1)
108(2)

O1–S–O2O1–S–O3O2–S–O3

104.29(6)104.25(7)103.14(6)H3–O5–H4
O5–H3
H3···O2
O5···O2
O5–H3···O2

116(2)
0.92(2)
1.89(2)2.79(1)167(1)

O5–H4
H4···O3
O5···O3
O5–H4···O3

0.93(2)
1.86(2)2.78(1)
168(2)

H5–O4–H6
O4–H5
H5···O1
O4···O1O4–H5···O1110(2)
0.92(2)2.05(2)2.93(1)161(2)

O4–H6
H6···O6
O4···O6
O4–H6···O6

0.93(1)1.92(1)2.84(1)173(1)

hinsdalite, plumbogummite, gibbsite, scheelite,
jarosite and albertiniite (mostly covered by anamorphous hydrated iron oxide). The mineraloccurs on the surfaces of brittle fractures in quartz
veins and in the chlorite-schist hosting the mineralized quartz veins, in monoclinic prisms up to
0.7 mm across, sometimes showing rounded corners
and edges. Albertiniite crystals are covered frequently by brownish amorphous hydrated Feoxides, probably pseudomorphs after a mineralwith a rhombohedral shape (Fig. 2). The mineralshows, under the polarizing microscope, a perfect{010} cleavage; it is brittle with an irregular fracture.
The new species forms colourless to yellowish(under natural light) transparent crystals with avitreous lustre. It is biaxial (+), with 2V(meas) ≈ 40°
and 2V(calc) = 66°. The measured refractive indexes,
using sodium light (589 nm), are: α = 1.612(2)°, β =1.618(2)° and γ = 1.632(2)°. The optical axis plan isparallel to the perfect {010} cleavage plane. The
mineral is colourless and non-pleochroic underpolarized light. Due to the scarcity of crystals, thedensity was not measured. The calculated density is2.469 g cm–3 (from the crystal-structure refinement), or 2.458 g cm–3 (from the chemical analysis
and the single-crystal unit-cell parameters). The
compatibility index is 0.012, if calculated with thedensity obtained from crystal structure data, or
0.008, if calculated with the density obtained fromthe chemical data. For the compatibility calculations,
we used the Ki constants calculated for oxides by
Mandarino (1981).

Chemical data

989

Preliminary chemical data, along with secondaryelectron and back-scattered images of albertiniite,

P. VIGNOLA ET AL.

FIG. 3. Unpolarized Raman spectra of albertiniite.

were collected both on natural samples andpolished sections by a Tescan Vega TS 5136 XM
scanning electron microscope (SEM) equippedwith an EDAX Genesis 4000 JXM energy
dispersive spectrometer (EDS), at the “Centro

interdipartimentale di microscopia elettronica” of
the University of Milano-Bicocca. Quantitative
chemical analyses were then performed on thepolished sections using a JEOL JXA-8200 electron
microprobe in wavelength-dispersive mode at the

FIG. 4. Unpolarized Raman spectra of albertiniite from 100 to 1100 cm–1.

990

ALBERTINIITE, A NEW MINERAL SPECIES FROM MONTE FALÒ, ITALY

laboratory of the Earth Sciences Department,
University of Milano (ESD-MI). The system wasoperated using an accelerating voltage of 15 kV, abeam current of 5 nA, a spot size of 15 µm and acounting time of 30 s on the peaks and 10 s on the
background. Grossular for Si (Kα) and Ca (Kα),
celestine for S (Kα), omphacite for Na (Kα), fajalite
for Fe (Kα), rhodonite for Mn (Kα), forsterite forMg (Kα), K-feldspar for K (Kα), graftonite for P(Kα), realgar for As (Lα) and cancrinite for Cl (Kα)
served as standards. The raw data were corrected for
matrix effects using the φρZ method from the JEOL
series of programs. The elements Si, P, Al, K and Cl
were below detection limits in all 16 microprobe
spots. Mean analytical results are reported inTable 1. Due to the small amount of material H2O
was not determined directly but was calculated bydifference to 100 wt.%. The empirical formulacalculated on the basis of 3 anhydrous oxygen2þ
atoms per formula unit (apfu) is (Fe2þ
0:774 Mn0:282
Ca0.001Mg0.001Na0.003)∑1.061(S0.971O3)·2.84H2O.
The simplified formula is Fe2+(SO3)·3H2O, which
requires SO2 = 33.73 wt.%, FeO = 37.82 wt.% and
H2O = 28.45 wt.% for a total of 100.00 wt.%.

detector (CCD), using graphite-monocromatized
MoKα radiation and operated at 50 kV and 40 mAat the ESD-MI. To maximize the reciprocal spacecoverage, a combination of ω and φ scans wasused, with a step size of 1° and an exposure time
per frame of 10 s. A total number of 14,415
reflections up to 2θmax of 72.3° was collected, outof which 1668 were unique, giving a metricallymonoclinic unit cell with: a = 6.633(1), b = 8.831(1), c = 8.773(1) Å, β = 96.106(8)° and V = 511.0(1) Å3 (Table 3). The reflection conditions
suggested the space group P21/n as highly likely.
X-ray intensity data were first processed with the
E-STATISTICS programs, implemented in the
WinGX package (Farrugia, 1999). The statistics of
distributions of the normalized structure factors
showed, unambiguously (∼70% likelihood), thatthe structure is centrosymmetric. The anisotropic
structure refinement was then performed in thespace group P21/n using the SHELX-97 software(Sheldrick 1997, 2008), starting from the site
coordinates of synthetic α-Fe2+(SO3)·3H2O
reported by Johansson and Lindqvist (1979), in
which the H sites were not located. Neutral X-ray

TABLE 6 Raman bands measured in albertiniite andtheir assignments.

X-ray diffraction data and crystal structurerefinement
The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern ofalbertiniite was collected by a high-resolution
Panalytical X’pert Pro X-ray powder diffractometerequipped with a X’Celerator-type detector at the
ESD-MI. Operating conditions were: Ni-filtered
CuKα radiation, 40 kV, 40 mA, 2θ-range from 5°
to 120°, step size of 2θ = 0.017° and a counting timeof 300 s per step. Refinement of unit-cell parameters
was performed using the program CELREF 3(Laugier and Bochu, 1999), based on the structure
model obtained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction(see below). Silicon NIST 640c was used as a lineposition internal standard. Reflection conditions
were found to be consistent with the space group
P21/n. The refined unit-cell parameters are a = 6.633(10), b = 8.831(9), c = 8.771(13) Å, β = 96.2(2)° andV = 511(1) Å3 (with Z = 4). The complete list ofindexed reflections is reported in Table 2. The eightstrongest measured lines are [d in Å, (I/I0), (hkl)]:
4.072 (100) (111), 3.539 (93) (112), 5.533 (27)(101), 6.167 (14) (011), 2.830 (14) (211), 4.998 (14)(101), 4.353 (12) (111) and 3.897 (12) (012).
Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data werecollected with an Xcalibur – Oxford Diffraction
diffractometer equipped with a charge-coupled

Wavenumber(cm–1)
Intensity
123
172
197
241
279
324
438
457
482
495
600
660
825
860
910
950
970
1660
3215
3350

m
w
w
w
w,b
w,sh
m
m
sh
w,b
w,b
w
w
m
s
vs
w
vs
vs

Assignment
Lattice mode
Lattice mode
Lattice mode
Lattice mode
Lattice mode
Lattice mode
ν4 SO3 (asymmetric bending)ν4 SO3 (asymmetric bending)ν4 SO3 (asymmetric bending)ν4 SO3 (asymmetric bending)ν2 SO3 (symmetric bending)ν2 SO3 (symmetric bending)ν3 SO3 (asymmetric stretching)ν3 SO3 (asymmetric stretching)ν3 SO3 (asymmetric stretching)ν3 SO3 (asymmetric stretching)ν1 SO3 (symmetric stretching)
O–H–O bending (H2O)
OH stretching (H2O)
OH stretching (H2O)

vs = very strong; s = strong; m = medium; mw = medium
weak; w = weak; b = broad; sh = shoulder.

991

P. VIGNOLA ET AL.

scattering curves for Fe, Mn, S, O and H were usedaccording to the International Tables for
Crystallography C (Wilson and Prince, 1999).
The secondary isotropic extinction effect wasmodelled according to the Larson’s formalism(Larson, 1967), as implemented in the SHELXL97 package (Sheldrick 1997, 2008), though therefined value of the extinction coefficient was not
significant. The octahedral M site was firstmodelled with a mixed (Fe + Mn) scattering
curve according to the chemical analysis (Tables
1 and 4); however, this did not improve the figure of
merit of the refinement with respect to the site being
fully populated by Fe. Six independent H sites wereadded to the structure model on the basis of the
maxima found in the difference-Fourier map of theelectron density. The relative O–H distances wererestrained to a target value of 0.95 ± 0.03 Å.
Convergence was achieved rapidly and the variance-covariance matrix showed no high correlation

among the refined parameters; the six H sites wererefined isotropically, with a restrained group value(Table 4). No peaks larger than +/– 0.5 e – Å–3 were
present in the final difference-Fourier maps of theelectron density (Table 3). The final agreement
index (R1) was 0.0227 for 92 refined parametersand 1409 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo)(Table 3). Atom coordinates and displacement
parameters are reported in Table 4. Relevant bondlengths and angles are listed in Table 5.

Raman spectroscopy
The single-crystal Raman spectrum of albertiniite
was collected using an Olympus BX40 microscopeattached to a Jobin-Yvon Horiba LabRam confocal
Raman spectrometer, equipped with CCD, at the
University of Parma. The spectrum was collected byexciting the sample with a 473.1 nm laser light. The

TABLE 7 Comparison between the crystallographic features of albertiniite with gravegliaite and their synthetic
analogues.
Albertiniite
Reference

This work

Ideal formula
Crystal system
Space group
a (Å)
b (Å)
c (Å)
β (°)
Z
Strongest X-ray lines

2+

Density
ColourMorphology

Synthetic
α-FeSO3·3H2O[1]
2+

Fe (SO3)·3H2O
monoclinic
P21/n
6.633(1)8.831(1)8.773(2)96.106(8)46.167 (14)5.533 (27)5.257 (11)
4.998 (14)4.721 (100)4.353 (12)3.897 (12)3.539 (93)3.290 (10)2.830 (14)2.469 (calc.)

Fe (SO3)·3H2O
monoclinic
P21/n
6.604(2)8.693(1)8.714(2)96.05(2)45.522 (m)4.661 (s)3.878 (s)3.277 (s)3.072 (m)2.863 (m)2.753 (m)2.220 (m)1.939 (m)1.870 (m)Colourless, pale yellow,
transparent
Prismatic

Pale green,transparent

Gravegliaite[2]Synthetic
MnSO3·3H2O[3]Mn (SO3)·3H2O
orthorhombic
Pnma
9.763(1)5.635(1)9.558(1)Mn2+(SO3)·3H2O
orthorhombic
Pnma
9.72(2)5.63(1)
9.53(2)

4
6.83(s)4.33(vs)3.43(vs)2.704(m)2.666(m)2.414(m)1.726(m)42.39 (calc.)

2.40 (meas),2.40 (calc)
Colourless,transparent
Prismatic {010}2+Colourless,transparent
Prismatic {010}[1] Johansson and Lindquist (1979); [2] Basso et al. (1991); [3] Baggio and Baggio (1976). m = medium; s = strong;vs = very strong.

992

ALBERTINIITE, A NEW MINERAL SPECIES FROM MONTE FALÒ, ITALY

FIG. 5. The crystal structure of albertiniite based on the structure refinement of this study with 50% thermal ellipsoid
probability factors.

laser beam was focused on the sample on a spot withnearly 2 μm diameter of (objective 50x) and theconfocal aperture was set at 150 μm. The Raman
spectrum was collected in back-scattered geometry,in the spectral range 100–4000 cm–1, with 200 s
counting time and three accumulations (Figs 3 and
4). The position of the Raman bands was measured
using a Gauss-Lorentzian deconvolution procedure
with the LabSpec v.5 software, with a precision of
0.5 cm–1. The Raman bands are reported in Table 6.

Discussion
The new mineral albertiniite is the product of theintermediate oxidation of Fe sulfides (e.g. pyrite,
arsenopyrite) in a Ca-rich hydrothermal environment. Albertiniite is a (Fe2+, Mn)-sulfite trihydratechemically related to gravegliaite, Strunz 4.JE.05,
Dana 34.2.05.2. It corresponds to the monoclinic993

Feequivalentofgravegliaite,
ideallyMn2+(SO3)·3H2O (Basso et al., 1991; Table 7). A
comparison of the crystallographic features ofalbertiniite and those of its synthetic counterpart
α-FeSO3·3H2O, gravegliaite and synthetic
MnSO3·3H2O is given in Table 7. Among these,
the Mn-dominant minerals have orthorhombic
structures (as observed in gravegliaite and synthetic
MnSO3·3H2O), whereas the Fe-dominant albertiniite and α-FeSO3·3H2O structures are monoclinic(Table 7). A view of the crystal structure ofalbertiniite is shown in Fig. 5. Each Fe atom is 6coordinated to three different sulfite O atoms andthree H2O molecules, giving a slightly distorted
octahedron (the difference between the longest andthe shortest M–O distances is ∼0.17 Å; Table 5).
The sulfite group shows S–O bond distances
similar to those reported previously for thesynthetic α-FeSO3·3H2O, with S–O1 > S–O3 >S–O2 (Johansson and Lindqvist, 1979; Table 5).

P. VIGNOLA ET AL.

Each sulfite ion is bonded to three Fe atoms, givinga three-dimensional net of Fe–O–S interactions.
The H-bonding scheme in albertiniite is O1···H2–
O6–H1···O4, O3···H4–O5–H3···O2 and O6···H6–
O4-H5···O1 (Table 5). All the H-bonds show
O–H···O angles > 160°and H···O distances ≤ 2 Å.
The Raman spectrum of albertiniite (Figs 3 and 4,
Table 6) is typical of a hydrated sulfite, containing thestretching (i.e. 3215 and 3350 cm–1, Table 6) andbending (i.e. 1660 cm–1) modes of H2O, along withstretching and bending modes of the pyramidal SO23
ion (observed between 438 and 970 cm–1). FreeSO23 is expected to show only four Raman modes,
while in a crystal structure the local distortion willremove the double degeneracy of the asymmetricmodes ν3 and ν4, leading to a total of six modes. Here
we observe a total of 11 modes that can be ascribed toSO2
3 (Table 6). For any given oxygen atom (Oj )belonging to the coordination environment of theoctahedral site, the presence of Mn and Fe (co-sharing
the M site) leads to slightly different M–Oj distances atthe local scale, which, in turn, will give different S–Oj
distances. We are inclined to consider the doubling of
the Raman active modes of the SO2
3 group as being
due to local Fe/Mn ordering.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Claudio Albertini for having
provided the new mineral used in this study. The authors
are particularly grateful to P. Leverett, Jakub Plášil andan anonymous reviewer, and to the Editors P. Williams
and S. Mills for their constructive comments.

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