Alabandite mineral
Alabandite is the cubic manganese sulfide mineral, ideal formula MnS, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from the MnS polymorph rambergite, elemental manganese and a whole polymetallic ore. The accepted experiment identifies alabandite as one component of natural Talvivaara black shale and measures its content in fractions from laboratory flotation with freeze-dried bacterial biomass. This is not pure-mineral testing, proof of a microbial surface mechanism, manganese product recovery or a criticality designation inherited from Mn.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)
Alabandite partitioning in mixed-ore flotation with dried bacterial biomass
separation
Microbial
Associated Organisms:
Staphylococcus carnosus (NCBITaxon:1281)
Source-assigned alabandite occurs at different measured contents in feed and product fractions of two flotation tests containing freeze-dried Staphylococcus carnosus and conventional reagents. Microbial participation here means addition of microbial biomass, not demonstrated metabolism or mineral-specific adhesion. The authors report no substantial overall recovery or grade improvement from bioflotation. Neither a recovered manganese product nor a mineral-specific recovery efficiency is established.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Materials and Methods, printed pages 292-294 and Tables 1-3: Talvivaara, Finland black shale was crushed to below 1 mm. Each flotation test used a 1 kg subsample ground for 45 min with 8 kg steel balls, 0.7 dm3 water and 500 g/t water glass to d80 78 micrometres. Flotation used a 4 dm3 cell, nominal 25% slurry density with basis unspecified, air 3 dm3/min and 1800 rpm. Freeze-dried cells were conditioned in tap water at pH 6.4-6.6; this conditioning pH is distinct from operating pH. Table 2 gives BIO11 S. carnosus 3000 g/t and potassium amyl xanthate 1300 g/t, rougher pH 4 and cleaner pH 5.6-7.7; BIO15 uses 1600 g/t cells and 800 g/t xanthate, rougher pH 10.5 and cleaner pH 9.0-9.8. The study gives species names but no traceable strain code or sequence accession. Viability after freeze-drying, flotation temperature and residence or conditioning duration are not reported. A large original ore shipment and pilot biomass fermenters do not make these 1 kg tests industrial bioflotation deployment.
Materials and Methods, printed pages 292-294 and Tables 1-3: Talvivaara, Finland black shale was crushed to below 1 mm. Each flotation test used a 1 kg subsample ground for 45 min with 8 kg steel balls, 0.7 dm3 water and 500 g/t water glass to d80 78 micrometres. Flotation used a 4 dm3 cell, nominal 25% slurry density with basis unspecified, air 3 dm3/min and 1800 rpm. Freeze-dried cells were conditioned in tap water at pH 6.4-6.6; this conditioning pH is distinct from operating pH. Table 2 gives BIO11 S. carnosus 3000 g/t and potassium amyl xanthate 1300 g/t, rougher pH 4 and cleaner pH 5.6-7.7; BIO15 uses 1600 g/t cells and 800 g/t xanthate, rougher pH 10.5 and cleaner pH 9.0-9.8. The study gives species names but no traceable strain code or sequence accession. Viability after freeze-drying, flotation temperature and residence or conditioning duration are not reported. A large original ore shipment and pilot biomass fermenters do not make these 1 kg tests industrial bioflotation deployment.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
langwaldt2007
Analytical methods on page 294 specify SEM with EDAX and mineral liberation analysis, plus electron microprobe analysis. Table 4 on page 295 and its appended landscape duplicate assign 1.79% of ore to alabandite; that assigned fraction contains 58.47% Mn, 36.43% S and 3.24% Fe in the reported microprobe composition. This supports a natural Mn-rich sulfide assignment within a mixed ore, not pure ideal MnS. The study does not show phase-specific powder diffraction or another direct polymorph test distinguishing the MnS polymorphs, so the experimental material remains source-assigned alabandite.
Support
Source:
langwaldt2007
Table 6, page 297, reports mineral content (%) rather than mineral recovery: alabandite is 1.3% in BIO11 feed and 0.7% in its third cleaner concentrate CC3, versus 1.1% in BIO15 feed and 2.4% in its CC3. The original ore column gives 1.8%. These are compositions of different fractions; no paired alabandite mass balance or isolated manganese-product denominator is supplied. Zero-valued cells elsewhere in the table do not establish absolute absence because detection and quantification limits are not given.
Partial
Source:
langwaldt2007
Table 2 changes biomass dose, collector dose and operating pH between BIO11 and BIO15. Reference tests without bacteria are included for overall flotation, but Table 6 does not provide an otherwise matched bacteria-free alabandite fraction series. Independent assay replication, uncertainties and a pure-alabandite adhesion or surface-chemistry test are not supplied. Accordingly, differing fraction compositions cannot be assigned uniquely to bacteria or interpreted as evidence that the organism selectively floats, dissolves or forms alabandite. General adhesion theory in the Introduction is not a demonstrated mechanism for this mineral.
Refute
Source:
langwaldt2007
The abstract, Figures 1-2, Table 5 and Conclusions on page 298 oppose a claim that biomass substantially improved overall product recovery or grade under these tests. Xanthate collectors remained necessary for reasonable flotation. Figures 1-2 and Table 5 quantify nickel, not alabandite recovery; Table 5 includes BIO20, not BIO15. The 53% manganese recovery quoted in the abstract and conclusion belongs to standard chemical flotation and must not be attributed to the microbial treatments. No extrapolation to industrial deployment or a demonstrated Mn recovery process is made.
Context_only
Source:
ncbi_scarnosus
TaxId 1281 maps the reported species name to Staphylococcus carnosus. No type strain, genome or culture-collection identifier is transferred to the unaccessioned biomass used by Langwaldt and Kalapudas.
Sources & References
-
ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; Alabandite row, PDF page 5, and definitions on pages 1-2. MnS, status G, year 1832.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-15) -
handbook: Handbook of Mineralogy. Alabandite, version 1 (2001-2005), complete one-page entry; cubic MnS and dimorphism with rambergite.
https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/alabandite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-15) -
langwaldt2007: Langwaldt, J. and Kalapudas, R. (2007). Bio-beneficiation of multimetal black shale ore by flotation. Physicochemical Problems of Mineral Processing 41, 291-299; complete publisher PDF, Tables 1-6 and Figures 1-2. Publisher metadata misspells Langwaldt as Landwaldt; the original PDF author spelling is used. Its eleven PDF pages include a blank page and an additional landscape copy of Table 4.
https://www.journalssystem.com/ppmp/pdf-79310-15375?filename=Bio-beneficiation-of-mult.pdf (accessed 2026-10-15) -
ncbi_scarnosus: NCBI Taxonomy, Staphylococcus carnosus, species TaxId 1281; live taxonomy XML checked. This species mapping does not identify the study's strain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=1281 (accessed 2026-10-15)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-15T03:50:52Z |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Created the distinct alabandite mineral owner from complete original mixed-ore flotation evidence and current mineral/taxonomy authorities, preserving dried biomass, phase-assignment uncertainty, unmatched controls, null benefit, fraction-content denominators and shared-study lineage. |
Record source: data/records/alabandite.yaml