As an important ore of cobalt and as mineral specimens. Specimens Linnaeite is not a well known mineral but is still an important ore of the strategically valuable metal cobalt. It commonly forms with other cobalt sulfides but usually as just a trace. In a few areas it has formed in large quantities and has become a valuable ore in mines in Zaire and Zambia.
Color is gray to white, usually with a tarnish if exposed to weathering.
Luster is metallic. Transparency crystals are opaque. Crystal System is isometric. Crystal Habits include small octahedral crystals, usually well formed, and as granular masses in sulfide rocks. Cleavage is imperfect.