Specimen #1217

Name: Volarite in Calcite

Type: Micromount

Locality: Troy District, Lincoln Co., Montana, USA

Favorite? N

Fluorescent? N

Size:

Weight:

Acquired: 2009-01-23

Source: Ian Heales Collection

Label: N

Comment: Locality might be Troy, Missouri. Violarite (Fe2+Ni23+S4) is a supergene sulfide mineral associated with the weathering and oxidation of primary pentlandite nickel sulfide ore minerals.

Violarite crystallises in the isometric system, with a hardness of 4.5 to 5.5 and a specific gravity of about 4, is dark violet gray to copper-red, often with verdigris and patina from associated copper and arsenic sulfides, and is typically in amorphous to massive infill of lower saprolite ultramafic lithologies.

Violarite has a characteristic violet colour, hence the name from the Latin 'violaris' alluding to its colour especially when viewed in polished section under a microscope

Minerals: Calcite (CaCO3) Violarite (Fe++Ni+++2S4)

There is one picture on file

M01217-01.jpg:

Violarite in Calcite, Troy District, Lincoln Co., Montana - FOV: 18.8 x 12.5 mm