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Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Chalcostibite is a copper sulfo-antimonure. It forms in carbonate-rich cavities within antimony and copper deposits, thanks to a low- to-average temperature hydrothermalism.
The chalcostibite crystals are prismatic and often elongated. They are gray-black of color, with a metallic lustre. Chalcostibite is associated with common copper sulphides, calcite, pyrite and galena. Chalcostibite is a species which is known only in a few deposits: the district of Ouroro in Bolivia (crystals « sword-shaped » of 1cm), Vancouver Island in Canada, in Tuscany in Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Morocco...
In France, only four localities are known: Saint-Pons in Hautes-Alpes (with 4 cm long crystals), Tomino in Corsica, Semmon in Île-et-Vilaine (Brittany) and and in Saint-Beauzire (Haute-Loire).
The place of conservation of the type of this species (from the Earl Jost-Jost-Christian mine, Wolfsberg, Harz Mts., Low Saxony, Germany) is not known.
Did you know? The Saint-Pons outcrop in Provence (France), despite emdebbed in sedimentary clays, has produced the best crystals so far and more is likely to be found soon...
HISTORY : Name derived from Greek "χαλκοσ" [khalkos] meaning "copper" and from Latin "stibium" meaning "antimoine"
Species described in 1847 by Ernst Friedrich Glocker (1793-1858), German mineralogist
Locality-type: Wolfberg, Harz, Germany
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Cu Sb S2
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Gray lead to deep gray
DIAPHANIETY : Opaque
LUSTER : Metallic
STREAK : Gray black, black
MORPHOLOGIE : Lamellars crystals, flattened, massives
HARDNESS : 3,0-4,0
CHEMICAL CLASS: 5,011
DENSITY : II - Sulfures, sulfosels
GROUP : Chalcostibite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 2/E.04-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 2.HA.05
