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CMMMech > Mineral > Ferrokësterite

Ferrokësterite mineral

Tetragonal copper-iron-tin sulfide mineral of the stannite group with current September 2026 IMA-CNMNC approved formula Cu2FeSnS4, renamed status Rn, and approval number IMA 1985-012. Kissin and Owens (1989) characterized the type material from Geological Survey of Canada specimen 14747 (cotypes GSC 65048 polished section A and British Museum (Natural History) BM 1984, 844 grain mount) from a greisen-bordered vein on the 60-m level of the Cligga mine (Cligga Head), Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, United Kingdom, corresponding to the low-temperature polymorph previously referred to in the literature as 'isostannite'. Electron-microprobe analysis of the Cligga mine holotype (Table 1 analysis 4 and Table 4 analysis 1, pp. 675 and 678) yielded Cu 28.9, Fe 8.6, Zn 5.0, Sn 27.0, S 29.5, total 100.9 wt%, corresponding on an 8-atom basis to the empirical formula Cu1.99(Fe0.67Zn0.33)Sigma1.00Sn0.99S4.02, with Fe > Zn at the divalent B site of the kësterite structure. Precession single- crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (Table 6, p. 680) indexed in tetragonal space group I-4 (a = 5.433(36), c = 10.884(89) A, Z = 2), distinguishing ferrokësterite from its high-temperature polymorph stannite (space group I-42m) and from the Zn-dominant end-member kësterite (Cu2ZnSnS4, space group I-4). The 1989 characterization used powder and precession photography without a new single-crystal site-occupancy refinement on the Cligga mine holotype. Distinct from stannite, kësterite, petrukite, sakuraiite, and elemental tin; no criticality designation, microbial mechanism, or industrial recovery yield is asserted.

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Identifiers & Classification

System Identifier Label
IMA IMA:1985-012 Ferrokësterite

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026, PDF page 71, Ferrokësterite row: formula Cu2FeSnS4, status Rn, IMA No. 1985-012, country United Kingdom, reference Canadian Mineralogist 27 (1989), 673; column definitions on PDF page 1.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-18)
  2. kissin_owens_1989: Kissin SA, Owens DR (1989), The relatives of stannite in the light of new data, Canadian Mineralogist 27:673-688. Complete 16-page primary PDF visually inspected: ferrokesterite history and Cligga mine cotypes GSC 65048 and BM 1984, 844 (from GSC 14747) pp. 673-679; electron-microprobe analyses Tables 1 and 4 pp. 675 and 678; reflectance Table 2 p. 676; powder XRD and tetragonal I-4 unit-cell refinement Table 6 p. 680.
    https://www.rruff.net/doclib/cm/vol27/CM27_673.pdf (accessed 2026-10-18)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-19T05:22:00Z antigravity CREATE Created ferrokësterite mineral record from the September 2026 IMA master list and complete 1989 primary description of the Cligga mine cotypes, preserving polymorphism with stannite and solid-solution boundaries with kësterite.

Record source: data/records/ferrokesterite.yaml