Linnaeite - Encyclopedia

    Class : Sulfides and sulfosalts
    Subclass : Sulfides
    Crystal system : Cubic
    Chemistry : Co₃S₄
    Rarity : Uncommon to fairly common

Linnaeite is the most common mineral of the group of the same name. This group with general formula X₃S₄ (with X = Co, Ni, Fe, or Co+Cu), can be compared with that of spinels, sulfur replacing oxygen. The linnaeite group is composed of three solid solutions : Co (linnaeite in the strict sense) - Ni (polydymite) - Fe (greigite), the intermediate term being violarite and Co-linnaeite - Cu. This last solid solution being the only one which is incomplete, it stops at carrollite. Linnaeite in the strict sense is a fairly uncommon cobalt sulfide found in cobalt and nickel hydrothermal deposits, notably veins (Germany, Sweden) and deposits in carbonate contexts (Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo). It was named in honor of the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, founder of modern botany who described tens of thousands of species. Linnaeite is bright gray to steel gray with a slightly pinkish tint. Very sensitive to alteration, linnaeite gradually transforms into asbolane, black in color. Octahedral crystals are common, cubo-octahedra rarer. It is an important ore of cobalt and more rarely of nickel.

Main photo : Linnaeite from Gladhammar mines, Västervik, Kalmar County, Sweden © Detlef Heilwagen

No twin known for this mineral species.

No fakes recorded for this mineral species.