Cooperite Mineral Data

Cooperite Mineral Data

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General Cooperite Information

Chemical Formula:

(Pt,Pd,Ni)S

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 186.91 gm

Nickel 3.14 % Ni

Palladium 17.08 % Pd

Platinum 62.62 % Pt

Sulfur 17.16 % S

______

100.00 %

Empirical Formula:

Pt_0.6Pd_0.3Ni_0.1S

Environment:

A significant platinum ore mineral, found in concentrates from norites.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1928

Locality:

At various locations along the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex, Transvaal, South Africa. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

For R.A. Cooper, of Johannesburg, South Africa, who first described the mineral.

Synonym:

ICSD 41376

PDF 26-1302

Cooperite Image

Images:

Cooperite Cherepanovite Platinum

Comments: Creamy-grayish fractured grains of cherepanovite with gray granular cooperite and white massive grains of iridian ruthenian platinum. Polished section in reflected light.
Location: Placer Deposit, Northern Pekul'nei River, Pekul'nei Range, Chukotka (Tchukotka) Okrug, Chukot Peninsula, Far-Eastern Region, Russia. Scale: Picture size 0.12 mm.
© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Images:

Cooperite Osmium Vasilite Vysotskite

Comments: BSE image taken with a SEM of the sulfide-dominant microparagenesis filling a gas vacuole. Cooperite crystal surrounded by Pd-Cu-Pt-S phase (vasilite?), vysotskite and osmium laths (white) in chalcopyrite-bornite matrix (dark). (CanMin 38:1258).
Location: Pustaya River placer deposit, situated within the Koryak-Kamchatka platinum-bearing belt of Alaskan-type intrusions in eastern Russia. Scale: See Image.
© Canadian Mineralogist

Cooperite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:c = 1:1.75792

Cell Dimensions:

a = 3.47, c = 6.1, Z = 2; V = 73.45 Den(Calc)= 8.45

Crystal System:

Tetragonal - Ditetragonal DipyramidalH-M Symbol (4/m 2/m 2/m) Space Group: P 4₁/mmc

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 3.03(1), 1.51(0.8), 1.918(0.7),

Physical Properties of Cooperite

Cleavage:

None

Color:

Steel gray.

Density:

9.5

Diaphaniety:

Opaque

Fracture:

Conchoidal - Fractures developed in brittle materials characterized by smoothly curving surfaces, (e.g. quartz).

Hardness:

4-5 - Fluorite-Apatite

Luster:

Metallic

Optical Properties of Cooperite

RL Anisotrophism:

Strong, greenish gray to whitish yellow to bluish white.

RL Color:

Brownish steel gray.

RL Pleochroism:

From white to creamy white to bluish white.

Reflectivity

**Standardized Intensity (100%) Reflection Spectra of Cooperite in Air**
λ	R₁	R₂	∑ R₁(λ)	∑ R₂(λ)
400 nm	40.90	46.60
420 nm	42.00	47.30
440 nm	42.60	47.90
460 nm	42.70	48.30
480 nm	42.20	48.40
500 nm	41.50	48.20
520 nm	40.40	47.80
540 nm	39.40	47.20
560 nm	38.50	46.60
580 nm	37.80	46.10
600 nm	37.20	45.50
620 nm	36.60	45.10
640 nm	36.00	44.70
660 nm	35.60	44.20
680 nm	35.10	43.70
700 nm	34.60	43.30

**Calculated Relative Intensity Colors of Cooperite in Air**
Relative Intensity	0%	30%	60%	90%	100%	120%	150%	180%	210%	240%
R₁
R₂

Calculated Properties of Cooperite

Electron Density:

r_electron=7.18 gm/cc
note: r_Cooperite=8.45 gm/cc.

Fermion Index

Fermion Index = 0.25144
Boson Index = 0.74856

Photoelectric:

PE_Cooperite= 999.37 barns/electron
U=PE_Cooperite x r_electron=7,174.69 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)

Cooperite is Not Radioactive

Cooperite Classification

Dana Class:

2.8.5.1 (2)Sulfides - Including Selenides and Tellurides

(2.8)where Am Bn Xp, with (m+n):p=1:1

(2.8.5)Dana Group

2.8.5.1 Cooperite (Pt,Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/mmc 4/m 2/m 2/m

2.8.5.2 Vysotskite (Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/m 4/m

2.8.5.3 Braggite (Pt,Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/m 4/m

Strunz Class:

II/C.25-30 II - Sulfides and sulphosalts

II/C - Sulfides with metal: sulfur, selenium and tellurium = 1:1

II/C.25 - Vysotskite - Cooperite series

II/C.25-10 Vysotskite (Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/m 4/m

II/C.25-20 Braggite (Pt,Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/m 4/m

II/C.25-30 Cooperite (Pt,Pd,Ni)S P 4₁/mmc 4/m 2/m 2/m

Other Cooperite Information

References:

NAME( AntBidBlaNic1) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(AntBidBlaNic1)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Cooperite :
1 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
2 - Athena
3 - EUROmin Project
4 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
5 - Google Images
6 - Google Scholar
7 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
8 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
9 - MinDAT
10 - MinMax(Deutsch)
11 - MinMax(English)
12 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
13 - QUT Mineral Atlas
14 - Ruff.Info
15 - WWW-MINCRYST

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Cooperite

(Pt,Pd,Ni)S
Dana No: 2.8.5.1 Strunz No: II/C.25-30
Locality:

Notes: