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Gersdorffite mineral

Gersdorffite is the nickel sulfarsenide mineral species with ideal formula NiAsS and cubic space group P2₁3. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list records it as renamed in 2022. CNMNC Newsletter 69 explicitly renamed gersdorffite-P2₁3 as gersdorffite, gersdorffite-Pa3 as paragersdorffite, and gersdorffite-Pca2₁ as orthogersdorffite; these other polymorphs are distinct species, not aliases of this record. Mauro and colleagues (2021, Section 3.1.1, Tables 1 and 3-5, Figures 2-4, and the original CIF) characterized natural zoned crystals from Contrada Zillì, Sicily, by electron-microprobe analysis and powder and single-crystal diffraction. The studied crystal has P2₁3 symmetry and a = 5.6968(7) Å. The specimen contains other minerals, and the gersdorffite grains show Fe/Co substitution and Sb/Bi-bearing zoning; this is not a pure bulk NiAsS feed. The proposed low-temperature, multistage geological origin is an interpretation of crystal chemistry and textures, not an experimentally demonstrated formation mechanism. Jaatinen's 2011 thesis supplies contextual mixed-concentrate leaching evidence under the older name: its GFC feed mineralogy, inherited from Wakeman et al. (2011), reports 30.6% gersdorffite but does not resolve the polymorph required by the current nomenclature. The GFC flask assays showed low culture activity and no consistent biological enhancement over their chemical controls. Dissolved metals from this mixed feed cannot establish dissolution of today's gersdorffite species or a recovered-product yield. A species-specific microbial mechanism and criticality designation are therefore unrecorded.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; PDF page 1 status definitions and page 82 Gersdorffite row: NiAsS, Rn, 2022 s.p. The special-procedure year denotes renaming, not a unique approval accession.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-15)
  2. cnmnc2022: Miyawaki et al. (2022), CNMNC Newsletter 69. European Journal of Mineralogy 34, 463-468. Section 3, page 467: nomenclature of polymorphs and polytypes approved in August 2022; exact gersdorffite, paragersdorffite and orthogersdorffite name changes.
    https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-34-463-2022 (accessed 2026-10-15)
  3. mauro2021: Mauro D, Biagioni C and Zaccarini F (2021), New data on gersdorffite and associated minerals from the Peloritani Mountains (Sicily, Italy). European Journal of Mineralogy 33, 717-726. Section 2 methods; Section 3.1.1, Tables 1 and 3-5 and Figures 2-4 support the sampled P2₁3 crystal identity and compositional zoning; Sections 4-5 contain interpreted geological origin, not a microbial assay or a demonstrated extraction pathway.
    https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-33-717-2021 (accessed 2026-10-15)
  4. mauro2021_si: Mauro et al. (2021), official supplementary ZIP: gersdorffite.cif, tetrahedrite-(Fe).cif and title page. The gersdorffite CIF confirms space group 198, P2₁3, and cell dimension 5.6968(7) Å. Minor main-table/CIF reporting differences are retained in the source dossier; no disputed temperature or reflection count is imported.
    https://ejm.copernicus.org/articles/33/717/2021/ejm-33-717-2021-supplement.zip (accessed 2026-10-15)
  5. jaatinen2011_context: Jaatinen T (2011), Bio-oxidation and bioleaching of arsenic-containing and refractory gold concentrates. MSc thesis, Tampere University of Technology. Context only: Table 6.2 on printed page 27 gives inherited mixed-feed mineralogy; Sections 6.2.2, 7.6.2, 7.8, 8.2 and 8.4, Figures 7.27-7.30 and Appendix 3 document GFC assays and community limits. No polymorph assignment establishes the current species; the separately cited Wakeman2011 journal original was unavailable.
    https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/123456789/20695/4/jaatinen.pdf (accessed 2026-10-15)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-15T05:11:49.122270Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Added diffraction-backed current gersdorffite identity and explicit historical-polymorph limitations without transferring mixed-feed microbial activity.

Record source: data/records/gersdorffite.yaml