VAESITE

    Class : Sulfides and sulfosalts
    Subclass : Sulfides
    Crystal system : Cubic
    Chemistry : NiS2
    Rarity : Rare

Vaesite is the nickel equivalent of pyrite. It is a rare sulfide forming a series with cattierite, its cobalt equivalent, which is found in nickel hydrothermal mineralizations. It frequently contains low iron and cobalt contents. It was named in honor of the Belgian Johannes F. Vaes, mineralogist at the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. Vaesite sometimes forms cubic or octahedral crystals, measuring 1 cm at most, but more often remains massive. It is a tin-white to yellowish mineral, tarnishing to black. It is an accessory ore of nickel.

Main photo : Vaesite from Castelluccio di Moscheda, Italy © Matteo Chinellato

Vaesite from Castelluccio di Moscheda, Italy © Angelo Brambilla
Vaesite from Castelluccio di Moscheda, Italy © Gianfranco Ciccolini
Twinned vaesite from Castelluccio di Moscheda, Italy © Enrico Bonacina
Coated pyrite with vaesite from Montroc, Tarn, France © Michel Arliguie

Vaesite in the World

Vaesite is found in beautiful crystals associated with pyrite, disseminated in dolomite at Katsompi (Kambove), and Shinkolobwe (Katanga) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also found at Sweetwater (Missouri) alongside galena and polydymite. It is also known in Germany, notably at Schneeberg (Saxony) where it is of secondary origin, resulting from the alteration of smaltine, and in several other countries, always in a hydrothermal context.

Vaesite in France

In France, vaesite is reported at Montroc (Tarn).

Twinning

Twinning is known on {111}.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes listed for this mineral species.


Hardness : 4.5 to 5.5
Density : 4.45
Fracture : Undetermined
Streak : Black

TP : Opaque
RI : -
Birefringence : 0
Optical character : None
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : -

Magnetism : NoneRadioactivity : None