Hauerite mineral
Hauerite is the cubic manganese disulfide mineral MnS2, with pyrite-type structure and grandfathered status in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from the MnS minerals alabandite and rambergite and from elemental manganese. The accepted experiment measures sulfur products during sterile ferric-chloride oxidation of source-identified hauerite. It does not establish a hauerite-specific microbial process, manganese recovery or inherited criticality.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)
Abiotic oxidation of hauerite with predominantly elemental sulfur products
redox transformation
Pulverized hauerite exposed to acidic ferric chloride produced predominantly elemental sulfur among the reported sulfur products. The authors interpret this behavior through a proposed polysulfide pathway for acid-soluble sulfides. The directly accepted observation is the sterile chemical experiment and its product distribution, not demonstrated biological oxidation of hauerite or isolated manganese recovery.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Experimental paragraph preceding Table 1: sulfides were crushed, pulverized and heat-sterilized under nitrogen. Each shake flask received 1 g mineral and 50 mL sterile 10 mM FeCl3 at pH 1.9; Table 1 specifies 28 degrees C. Hauerite was sampled at 5 h, unlike the 24 h endpoint for most other minerals. The source does not give hauerite provenance, grain size, surface area, sterilization temperature/duration or shaking speed. Reduced sulfur compounds were measured by HPLC with diode-array detection, sulfate by ion chromatography, metals by atomic absorption, iron species photometrically and pH by electrode. No organism was added to this arm.
Experimental paragraph preceding Table 1: sulfides were crushed, pulverized and heat-sterilized under nitrogen. Each shake flask received 1 g mineral and 50 mL sterile 10 mM FeCl3 at pH 1.9; Table 1 specifies 28 degrees C. Hauerite was sampled at 5 h, unlike the 24 h endpoint for most other minerals. The source does not give hauerite provenance, grain size, surface area, sterilization temperature/duration or shaking speed. Reduced sulfur compounds were measured by HPLC with diode-array detection, sulfate by ion chromatography, metals by atomic absorption, iron species photometrically and pH by electrode. No organism was added to this arm.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
schippers1999
Table 1 and footnote a identify hauerite as MnS2 with disulfide structure and greater than 99% purity calculated from ICP elemental composition. The authors report no XRD-detected impurities in this material, but do not display its diffraction pattern or provide a detection limit. Elemental-composition purity is not a refined phase fraction or proof of absolute purity.
Support
Source:
schippers1999
Table 1, hauerite row and footnote b, reports at 5 h: S8 93.6%, sulfate 3.7%, tetrathionate 1.2% and pentathionate 1.5%, with traces of hexathionate. Values are means of three parallel experiments; standard deviations are reported as less than 15% without individual uncertainties. These percentages describe the reported sulfur-product distribution. They are not the percentage of original mineral dissolved, manganese extracted, or isolated product recovered; the explicit calculation formula and closed sulfur/manganese balance are not supplied.
Partial
Source:
schippers1999
The discussion after Table 1 and Figures 2-3 propose proton/ferric attack and polysulfide intermediates to explain the elemental-sulfur-dominated endpoint. They do not directly demonstrate each intermediate on hauerite or isolate the respective contributions of protons and ferric ions with a hauerite-specific no-ferric control. Figure 1 is a separate ZnS assay with Thiobacillus thiooxidans R20 and sterile controls; its cell dose, time series and microbial effect cannot be transferred to hauerite.
Sources & References
-
ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; Hauerite row, PDF page 90, and definitions on pages 1-2. MnS2, status G, year 1846.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-15) -
handbook: Handbook of Mineralogy. Hauerite, version 1 (2001-2005), complete one-page entry; cubic Pa-3 MnS2, pyrite group, natural compositions and diffraction.
https://handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/hauerite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-15) -
schippers1999: Schippers, A. and Sand, W. (1999). Bacterial Leaching of Metal Sulfides Proceeds by Two Indirect Mechanisms via Thiosulfate or via Polysulfides and Sulfur. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65(1), 319-321. Complete publisher web-rendered original text and Table 1 inspected; all three original publisher figures acquired separately. Local text snapshot is derived web-parser output, not a downloaded original PDF.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/aem.65.1.319-321.1999 (accessed 2026-10-15)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-15T12:45:08Z |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Created the distinct hauerite owner from current mineral authorities and original sterile oxidation evidence, preserving sulfur-product denominators, phase-purity limits and the absence of a hauerite-specific microbial assay. |
Record source: data/records/hauerite.yaml