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Lead-antimony sulfosalts from Tuscany (Italy). XV. (Tl-Ag)-bearing rouxelite from Monte Arsiccio mine: occurrence and crystal chemistry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

C. Biagioni*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universitá di Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
Y. Moëlo
Affiliation:
Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, UMR 6502, CNRS, Université de Nantes, 2, rue de la Houssinière, 44322 Nantes Cedex 3, France
P. Orlandi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universitá di Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, I-56126 Pisa, Italy Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy

Abstract

A third world occurrence of rouxelite, ideally Cu2HgPb22Sb28S64(O,S)2, has been identified from the baryte-pyrite-Fe oxides ore of Monte Arsiccio mine, near Sant’Anna di Stazzema (Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy). Rouxelite occurs as mm-sized acicular crystals, black in colour, with bluish-violet iridescence, in vugs of carbonate + baryte + quartz veins embedded in dolostones from the Sant’Olga tunnel. It is associated with Tl-bearing chovanite, sphalerite and valentinite. Its X-ray powder diffraction pattern gives unit-cell parameters a = 43.10(2), b = 4.060(2), c = 37.88(2) Å, β = 117.33(2)°, V = 5889(5) Å3. Electron-microprobe data reveal a complex chemistry, with additional minor elements (wt.%): Tl (0.6–1.7), Ag (0.4–0.6), As (0.2–0.6) and Bi (≤0.05). This indicates a widespread substitution of Hg by Ag, according to Hg + Pb = Ag + Sb and incorporation of Tl, with some Ag, according to 2Pb = Sb + (Tl, Ag). The occurrence of mixed (Hg, Ag) and (Hg, Cu) sites in natural sulfides and sulfosalts is briefly reviewed. The Tl-content of the samples studied is a characteristic fingerprint agreeing with the Tl-rich nature of the mineral assemblage from Monte Arsiccio. Rouxelite therefore constitutes a new example of a Tl-bearing sulfosalt.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

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