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TARKIANITE, (Cu, Fe)(Re, Mo)₄S₈, A NEW MINERAL SPECIES FROM THE HITURA MINE, NIVALA, FINLAND

Kari K. Kojonen^1,, Andrew C. Roberts², Olli-Pekka Isomäki³, Vladimir V. Knauf⁴, Bo Johanson⁵ and Lassi Pakkanen⁵

¹ Geological Survey of Finland, FIN–02150 Espoo, Finland
² Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada
³ Outokumpu Mining Oy, Hitura Mine, FIN–85560 Ainastalo, Finland
⁴ NATI Research JSC, Otechestvennaya Street 3, Office 3a, RU–195030 St. Petersburg, Russia
⁵ Geological Survey of Finland, FIN–02150 Espoo, Finland

E-mail address: kari.kojonen{at}gsf.fi

Tarkianite, a new mineral species of ideal composition (Cu, Fe)(Re, Mo)₄S₈, was recently discovered in sulfide concentrate from the Hitura Ni–Cu–PGE mine, Nivala, western central Finland. It is associated with pyrrhotite, pentlandite, valleriite, chalcopyrite, cubanite, mackinawite, chromite, and the PGE minerals sperrylite, michenerite, irarsite, froodite and hollingworthite. It is black, opaque with a metallic luster, a black streak, and is brittle with an irregular fracture. VHN₁₅ is in the range 537–584, which corresponds to a Mohs hardness of 5 to 6. Under reflected plane-polarized light, the mineral is light brown-gray and isotropic. The CIE color values (illuminant C) are: x 0.314 (air), 0.315 (oil); y 0.321 (air), 0.323 (oil) Y: 38.9 (air), 21.7 (oil); d: 575 (air), 573 (oil); P_e%: 2.1 (air), 3.2 (oil). The measured values of reflectance in air and oil for a single grain, respectively, are 38.02, 20.91 (470 nm), 37.87, 21.76 (546 nm), 39.18, 21.84 (589 nm), 39.30, 22.12 (650 nm) and values for 400–700 nm are tabulated. Tarkianite is cubic, F3m (by analogy with the synthetic equivalent), with unit-cell parameter refined from powder data: a 9.563(1) Å, V 874.5(1) ų, Z = 4. The strongest eight lines of the X-ray powder-diffraction pattern [d in Å (I)(hkl)] are: 5.531(100)(111), 2.885(90)(311), 2.389(90)(400), 2.194(70)(331), 1.952(60)(422), 1.841(90)(511), 1.690(80)(440) and 1.246(50)(731). D (calc.) is 7.30 g/cm³ (for the empirical formula and unit-cell parameter). Averaged electron-microprobe data yielded Re 53.61, Mo 12.32, Cu 5.48, Os 0.84, Fe 0.59, Ni 0.09, Co 0.08, S 26.77, total 99.78 wt.%, corresponding to (Cu_0.83Fe_0.10Ni_0.02Co_0.01)_0.96(Re_2.79Mo_1.22Os_0.04)_4.03S_8.01, based on a total of thirteen atoms. The mineral name honors Professor Mahmud Tarkian, of the University of Hamburg, Germany, for his contributions to ore mineralogy.

Keywords: tarkianite, new mineral species, rhenium molybdenum copper sulfide, X-ray data, electron-microprobe data, reflectance data, Hitura mine, Nivala, Finland.

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