Cattierite
Encyclopedia
Cattierite is a mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

 found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was discovered together with Vaesite
Vaesite
Vaesite is a mineral found together with cattierite in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is named after Johannes F. Vaes, a Belgian mineralologist.-References:**...

 by Johannes F. Vaes, a Belgian mineralologist and named after Felicien Cattier, Chairman of the Board, Union Miniere du Haut Katanga.

The mineral belongs to the pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...

 group, in which all minerals share the same building principle. The metal in the oxidation state +2 forms a sodium chloride
Sodium chloride
Sodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...

 structure together with the anion S22-. This formalism recognizes that the sulfur atoms in pyrite occur in pairs with clear S-S bonds.

External links

  • Fact sheet from mindat.org
    Mindat.org
    Mindat.org is a non-commercial online mineralogical database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the internet....

  • Fact sheet from webmineral.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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