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: