Bismuth minerals

Bismuthinite is a mineral consisting of bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3). It is an important ore for bismuth. The crystals are steel-grey to off-white with a metallic luster. It is soft enough to be scratched with a fingernail and rather dense.

Aikinite is a sulfide mineral of lead, copper and bismuth with formula Pb Cu Bi S3. It forms black to grey or reddish brown acicular orthorhombic crystals with a Mohs hardness of 2 to 2.5 and a specific gravity of 6.1 to 6.8. It was originally found in 1843 in the Beryozovskoye deposit, Ural Mountains. It is named after Arthur Aikin (1773–1854), an English geologist.

Bismutite or bismuthite is a bismuth carbonate mineral with formula Bi2(CO3)O2 (bismuth subcarbonate). Bismutite occurs as an oxidation product of other bismuth minerals such as bismuthinite and native bismuth in hydrothermal veins and pegmatites. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and typically occurs as earthy to fibrous masses.

Bismite is a bismuth oxide mineral, bismuth trioxide or Bi2O3. It is a monoclinic mineral, but the typical form of occurrence is massive and clay-like with no macroscopic crystals. The color varies from green to yellow. It has a Mohs hardness of 4 to 5 and a specific gravity of 8.5 to 9.5, quite high for a nonmetallic mineral.

Tetradymite is a mineral consisting of bismuth, tellurium and sulfide, Bi2Te2S, also known as telluric bismuth. If sulfur is absent the mineral is tellurobismuthite and the formula is then Bi2Te3. Traces of selenium are usually present. left|thumb|180px|A sample of tetradymite Crystals are rhombohedral, but are rarely distinctly developed; they are twinned together in groups of four; hence the name of the mineral, from the Greek for fourfold. There is a perfect cleavage parallel to the basal plane and the mineral usually occurs in foliated masses of irregular outline. The color is steel-gray,

Kyawthuite is an extremely rare mineral with formula BiSbO4. It is a natural bismuth antimonate, in which bismuth has oxidation state +3, and antimony oxidation state +5.

Mixite is a rare copper bismuth arsenate mineral with formula: BiCu6(AsO4)3(OH)6·3(H2O). It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system typically occurring as radiating acicular prisms and massive encrustations. The color varies from white to various shades of green and blue. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 4 and a specific gravity of 3.8. It has an uneven fracture and a brilliant to adamantine luster.

Bismoclite is a bismuth oxohalide mineral with formula BiOCl. It is the naturally occurring form of bismuth oxychloride. The name was derived from its chemical constituents. It is a secondary bismuth mineral first thought to be composed of bismuthyl ions (BiO+) and chloride anions, however, the existence of the diatomic bismuthyl ion is doubtful.

Tellurobismuthite, or tellurbismuth, is a telluride mineral: bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3). It crystallizes in the trigonal system. There are natural cleavage planes in the (0001) direction as the crystal is effectively lamellar (layered) in that plane. The Mohs hardness is 1.5 – 2 and the specific gravity is 7.815. It is a dull grey color, which exhibits a splendent luster on fresh cleavage planes.

Aleksite (IMA symbol: Alk) is a rare lead bismuth tellurium sulfosalt mineral with formula PbBi2Te2S2.

Eulytine ( from , fusible, easily dissolved) or bismuth blende (obsolete) is one of the rarest minerals in nature. The composition is bismuth silicate with the calculation formula Bi4(SiO4)3 or Bi4Si3O12. The mineral forms isometric cubic crystals up to 2 mm in size, the supporting form of which is a tetrahedron or tristetrahedron. Among the varieties, there are also often concentric, fibrous or spherical aggregates of a very impressive appearance, which were previously called agricolites.

Kobellite is a gray, fibrous, metallic mineral with the chemical formula . It is also a sulfide mineral consisting of antimony, bismuth, and lead. It is a member of the izoklakeite – berryite series with silver and iron substituting in the copper site and a varying ratio of bismuth, antimony, and lead. It crystallizes with monoclinic pyramidal crystals. The mineral can be found in ores and deposits of Hvena, Sweden; Ouray, Colorado; and Wake County, North Carolina, US. The mineral was named after Wolfgang Franz von Kobell (1803–1882), a German mineralogist.

oxide mineral

Montbrayite (from a Canadian toponym) is a very rare mineral from among the gold tellurides, close to krennerite and calaverite, in composition it is a mixed polymetallic plumbo-telluride of gold with a variable formula, initially written as Au2Te3, or , but today having a much more complex form in the calculated form: . The color of montbrayite is cream, tin-white to pale yellow, the luster is metallic.

Polarite, is an opaque, yellow-white mineral with the chemical formula . Its crystals are orthorhombic pyramidal, but can only be seen through a microscope. It has a metallic luster and leaves a white streak. Polarite is rated 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs Scale.

Berryite is a mineral with the formula . It occurs as gray to blue-gray monoclinic prisms. It is opaque and has a metallic luster. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 and a specific gravity of 6.7.

Sillénite or sillenite is a mineral with the chemical formula Bi12SiO20. It is named after the Swedish chemist Lars Gunnar Sillén, who mostly studied bismuth-oxygen compounds. It is found in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, Mexico and Mozambique, typically in association with bismutite.

Atelestite is an arsenate mineral with the chemical formula Bi(AsO)O(OH). Its type locality is Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany.

Zaïrite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula Bi(Fe3+,Al)3[(OH)6|(PO4)2]. The name was given from where it was locally discovered in Eta-Etu, Kivu, Congo (Zaïre) in 1975.

Perite is a mineral that has a general chemical formula of PbBiO2Cl. The name is given for Per Adolf Geijer, a Swedish economic geologist with the Geological Survey of Sweden, who discovered the mineral in 1960 outside of Långban, Sweden. Perite is orthorhombic, space group Cmcm {C2/m 2/c 21/m}. In terms of its optical properties, Perite is anisotropic which means the velocity of light varies depending on direction through the mineral (i.e. it is birefringent). Its calculated relief is 1.45–1.461, which is moderate. It is colorless in plane polarized light, and it is weakly pleochroic. Perite

Volynskite (), is a rare hydrothermal mineral of the sulfide class (the group), that forms microscopic grains in related minerals, which in composition is a complex bismuth-silver telluride with the calculated formula AgBiTe2.

Zavaritskite is a rare mineral of the halide class, bismuth oxyhalide with the chemical formula (BiO)F. It is named after the Soviet geologist and petrographer, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Alexander Nikolaevich Zavaritsky. It was discovered in 1962 by Soviet scientists. Zavaritskite is part of matlockite group of minerals.

Arcubisite (Ag6CuBiS4) is a sulfosalt mineral occurring with cryolite in Greenland. It is named after its composition (ARgentum, CUprum, and BISmuth). Its IMA symbol is Acb.

Aschamalmite is a mineral with the chemical formula PbBiS. Its type locality is the High Tauern in Austria.

thumb | right Daubréeite is a rare bismuth oxohalide mineral with formula . It is a creamy-white to yellow-brown, soft, earthy clay–like mineral which crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system. It is a member of the matlockite group.

Aramayoite (IMA symbol: Ary) is a mineral with the chemical formula . Its type locality is Sud Chichas, Potosí, Bolivia.

Xilingolite is a lead sulfide mineral with formula Pb3Bi2S6. It has a hardness of 3, a metallic luster, and usually exhibits a lead-grey color. It is a dimorph of lillianite, exhibiting increased Pb-Bi order and decreased symmetry.

Aiolosite is a rare sodium bismuth sulfate mineral with the chemical formula NaBi(SO)Cl. Its type locality is Vulcano, Sicily, Italy. Its name comes from the Greek name Aeolus.

Ximengite is a phosphate mineral discovered in and named for the Ximeng tin-mining district in China. Chemically, it is bismuth phosphate.

Waylandite is the phosphate analogue of arsenowaylandite and the aluminum analogue of zaïrite. The mineral was approved by the IMA in 1962, and was published the same year. Waylandite was named in honor of Edgar James Wayland. It is a member of the alunite supergroup, and a member of the plumbogummite – also known as crandallite – group. So far, only two bismuth-bearing members of the alunite supergroup are known, one of which is waylandite, alongside its ferric iron analogue zaïrite.

Gananite () is a rare bismuth fluoride mineral form of bismuth trifluoride with a general formula of BiF3. Gananite is an isotropic mineral that belongs to the space group P43m. This means that gananite does not show any colors in cross polarized light, because when polarized light passes through it, it does not split into two perpendicular rays. In other words, because gananite is an isometric mineral, it does not exhibit double refraction. Moreover, this tells us that this mineral is not birefringent. Its color in plane-polarized light is blackish-brown, and it does not show pleochroism.