Hemusite

Hemusite
Hemusite from Kawazu mine, Japan at National Natural History Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria
General
Category	Sulfosalt minerals, Sulfides
Formula (repeating unit)	Cu6SnMoS8
Strunz classification	2.CB.35a (10 ed) 2/C.09-10 (8 ed)
Dana classification	2.9.6.1
Crystal system	Isometric
Identification
Color	gray
Mohs scale hardness	4
Luster	metallic
Diaphaneity	Opaque
Density	4.469
References	[1][2][3][4][5]

Hemusite is a very rare isometric gray mineral containing copper, molybdenum, sulfur, and tin with chemical formula Cu₆SnMoS₈.^[1] It was discovered by Bulgarian mineralogist Georgi Terziev in 1963. He also described it and named it after Haemus, the ancient name of Stara planina (Balkan) mountains in Europe. The type locality is Chelopech copper ore deposit, Bulgaria.^[3] Later tiny deposits of hemusite were found in Ozernovskoe deposit, Kamchatka, Russia; Kawazu mine, Rendaiji, Shimoda city, Chubu region, Honshu Island, Japan; Iriki mine, Iriki, Satsuma-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Region, Japan; Kochbulak deposit, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.^[6] Hemusite occurs as rounded isometric grains and aggregates usually about 0.05 mm in diameter and in association with enargite, luzonite, colusite, stannoidite, renierite, tennantite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and other minerals.

See also

List of minerals (complete)

References

1. G. Terziev, (1971) "Hemusite - A Complex Copper-Tin-Molybdenum Sulfide from the Chelopech Ore Deposit, Bulgaria", American Mineralogist, vol. 56, No. 11-12, at 1847.
2. Information about Hemusite in the Webmineral Database
3. Information about Hemusite in the Mindat Database
4. Information about Hemusite in Handbook of Mineralogy
5. Hemusite in RRUFF Database
6. Information about Hemusite at Mineralienatlas Lexicon

Further reading

• Shimizu, Masaaki; Kato, Akira; Matsubara, Satoshi (1988). "Hemusite and paraguanajuatite from the Kawazu mine, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan". Mineralogical Journal. 14 (3): 92. doi:10.2465/minerj.14.92.