11 – Type minerals from Bolivia

Ano 04 (2017) - Número 01 Artigos

 10.31419/ISSN.2594-942X.v42017i1a11HP

 

 

Herbert Poellmann, Prof. Dr.Dr.  Institute of Geosciences and Geography, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.

 

Bolivia is since the time of the spanish conquerors a region with intensive mining activities. Since the spanish silver boom in Potosi from 1545 also elements like tin, copper, tungsten, iron and zinc are produced from these ores. These extremeley rich mines led to the finding of even new minrals. Some of these are sulfosalts or other complex sulfide minerals. But also some secondary minerals of fluorides, arsenates, phosphates and hydroxides were described. Nowadays the rich lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni are also in the focus for further improvement due to the high demand for lithium in industry, but not producing new mineral type specimen. These high mining activities made it  possible to find many different ores and also nice mineral specimen. Bolivia even has a lot of type localities for new minerals which were first found there and described from these mines in Bolivia. One oft he most well known is the polymorph of ZnS – wurtzite which was originally described from Oruro. A summarizing table of more than 40 new minerals described from Bolivia is given in table 1.

 

Bolivia is since the time of the spanish conquerors a region with intensive mining activities. Since the spanish silver boom in Potosi from 1545 also elements like tin, copper, tungsten, iron and zinc are produced from these ores. These extremeley rich mines led to the finding of even new minrals. Some of these are sulfosalts or other complex sulfide minerals. But also some secondary minerals of fluorides, arsenates, phosphates and hydroxides were described. Nowadays the rich lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni are also in the focus for further improvement due to the high demand for lithium in industry, but not producing new mineral type specimen. These high mining activities made it  possible to find many different ores and also nice mineral specimen. Bolivia even has a lot of type localities for new minerals which were first found there and described from these mines in Bolivia. One oft he most well known is the polymorph of ZnS – wurtzite which was originally described from Oruro. A summarizing table of more than 40 new minerals described from Bolivia is given in table 1.

Table 1. Minerals describe from Bolivia

Aheylite              Fe2+Al6(PO4)4(OH)8 · 4H2O Ahlfeldite (TL)NiSeO3·2H2O

 

Aramayoite :           Ag3Sb2(Bi,Sb)S6
Alfredopetrovite (TL)            Al2(Se4+O3)3 · 6H2O Barringerite    (Fe,Ni)2P Berndtite           SnS2
Braithwaiteite NaCu52+(Ti4+Sb5+)O2(AsO4)4[AsO3(OH)]2 · 8H2O Bismite           Bi2O3

 

Canfieldite Ag8SnS6
Clino-scarkempffite Ag15Pb6Sb21Bi18S72 Colquiriite       CaLiAlF6 Cylindrite          FePb3Sn4Sb2S14
Daubréeite    BiO(OH)

 

Thioelaterite             (C, H,O,S) Eldragónite  Cu6BiSe4(Se2)
Favreauite  PbBiCu6O4(SeO3)4(OH) · H2O

 

Ferrivauxite    Fe3+Al2(PO4)2(OH)3 · 5H2O Franckeite  Pb21.7Sn9.3Fe4.0Sb8.1S56.9
Grundmannite CuBiSe2

 

Hansblockite  (Cu,Hg)(Bi,Pb)Se2

 

Herzenbergite       SnS

 

Hocartite         Ag2FeSnS4 Hydrotungstite     WO2(OH)2 · H2O Jeanbandyite (Fe3+,Mn2+)Sn4+(OH,O)6
Lammerite      Cu3(AsO4)2 Magnesio-riebeckite  Na2(Mg3Fe23+)Si8O22(OH)2

 

Mandarinoite                Fe23+(Se4+O3)3 · 6H2O

 

Metavauxite    Fe2+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2 · 8H2O Nikischerite  NaFe62+Al3(SO4)2(OH)18(H2O)12 Olsacherite Pb2(Se6+O4)(SO4)
Oscarkempffite            Ag10Pb4(Sb17Bi9)S48 Ottemannite    Sn2S3 Paravauxite           Fe2+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2 · 8H2O
Pavonite          AgBi3S5 Penroseite       NiSe2 Povondraite  NaFe33+(Fe43+Mg2)(Si6O18)(BO3)3(OH)3O
Quijarroite Cu6HgPb2Bi4Se12 Ramdohrite CdAg5.5Pb12Sb21.5S48 Rhodostannite            (Cu,Ag)2FeSn3S8
Rooseveltite    BiAsO4 Teallite            PbSnS2 Sigloite           Fe3+Al2(PO4)2(OH)3 · 7H2O
Vauxite                          Fe2+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2 · 6H2O

 

Wurtzite            ZnS

 

One of the most mineralogically interesting phases among those is cylindrite (FePb3Sn4Sb2S14) – a crystal structure with special cylindrical oriented sheets. Figure 1, shows the typical typical cylindrite rolls. The complex structure was solved by Kaden,R. 1980.

 

Figure 1. SEM image of cylindrite crystals from Bolivia – Poopó region.

 

REFERENCE

KADEN, R.: Synthese, Struktur und physikalische Eigenschaften komplexer Metallsulfide Kylindrit FeSn4Pb3Sb2S14 und Boulangerit Pb5Sb4S11, Dissertation, Univ. Leipzig, (1980)

 

 

 10.31419/ISSN.2594-942X.v42017i1a11HP