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Stannite mineral

Stannite is the mineral species Cu2FeSnS4, recorded as grandfathered (G) with original-description year 1832 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. That year is not an IMA approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental tin, tin commodities, mixed mine wastes and ferrokësterite, which shares the ideal formula but has a separate species identity. Černý and colleagues (2001) characterized natural zincian stannite and ferroan kësterite from four Peerless pegmatite nodules using electron microprobe analyses and powder-diffraction unit-cell refinement. They explicitly named the samples by composition; their work does not refine cation ordering or establish every specimen's space group. Haase and colleagues (2022) independently identified stannite by selected-area electron diffraction in selected natural grains from two Czech mine-waste sites. Their weathering textures and compositional series do not establish microbial causation or a recovery process. The laboratory leaching evidence below concerns separately prepared synthetic material and one historically identified Malaysian natural sample. No criticality designation is inherited from tin, copper or zinc.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Laboratory tin solubilization from stannite in an iron-oxidizing bacterial culture

bioleaching Microbial

Associated Organisms: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (NCBITaxon:920)

Teh reports dissolved tin during inoculated laboratory leaching of synthetic stannite and a natural stannite sample. An iron-oxidizing culture is consistent with ferric-ion-mediated sulfide attack, but the experiment does not resolve direct cell attack from indirect solution chemistry, individual reaction steps, or tin redox changes. The reported soluble fraction is not an isolated tin product.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The culture was described as a pure strain of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans from Kambrischer Alaunschiefer, Ranstad, Sweden, maintained in 9K medium. No strain accession, molecular identification, inoculum density, assay volume, aeration, replication or uncertainty is given. NCBITaxon:920 maps the historical species name only. Synthetic stannite was prepared in evacuated sealed silica tubes and reportedly verified by X-ray diffraction; no pattern or quantitative purity assay is supplied. The separate natural sample came from Hock Leong Mine, Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia; modern phase reidentification is absent. Figure 1 follows 35 days at 32 degrees C, particles below 0.16 mm and 0.5% pulp density. Results prose states initial pH 1.5, whereas Figures 1-2 state pH 2.5; this conflict remains unresolved. The stated 0.1% optimum pulp density belongs to a separate optimization claim, not this assay. Ferrous iron was needed in the nutrient medium, especially for iron-poor feeds, but its assay concentration is not specified. Figure 1 includes a synthetic-stannite sterile comparator, but no separate matched sterile natural-stannite arm or matched pH trajectory. Separate autoclaved organic-acid tests used different reagents, pulp density and pH; they do not demonstrate biological production of the organic acids or a matched bacterial comparison.
Curated Evidence Points:
Printed pages 85-87 and Figure 1 report tin solubilization measured by atomic absorption and confirmed colorimetrically. The Results report 54.45% Sn extracted from synthetic stannite and 31.30% from the separate natural sample; these are source-attributed percentages, not independently established mass balances or product yields. Figure 1 shows a lower synthetic-stannite sterile trace, supporting an inoculation-associated difference for that material only. The graph's printed concentration scale, labelled tin concentration (x1000 ppm), is not reconciled with the feed loading; no concentrations are digitized or converted. Missing replication, unequal material properties, incomplete controls and contradictory pH statements limit the strength and reproducibility of the microbial attribution. No recovered-product purity, continuous process or industrial deployment was demonstrated.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. PDF page 204, Stannite row (Cu2FeSnS4, G, 1832, UK); page 71, separate Ferrokësterite row; page 1 field definitions and page 2 distribution terms.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
  2. cerny_2001: Černý P, Masau M, Ercit TS, Chapman R and Chackowsky LE (2001). Stannite and kesterite from the Peerless pegmatite, Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. Journal of the Czech Geological Society 46(1-2), original printed pages 27-33; the current publisher landing page instead indexes 27-34. Complete seven-page original inspected, including Figures 1-4 and Tables 1-3; methods and compositions on page 28 and composition-based naming limitation on page 29.
    https://www.jgeosci.org/content/JCGS2001_1-2__cerny2.pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
  3. haase_2022: Haase P, Kiefer S, Pollok K, Drahota P and Majzlan J (2022). Weathering of stannite-kësterite [Cu2(Fe,Zn)SnS4] and the environmental mobility of the released elements. European Journal of Mineralogy 34, 493-506. DOI 10.5194/ejm-34-493-2022. Complete original fourteen pages, Figures 1-8 and Tables 1-4 inspected; Figures 6b and 8b provide the selected stannite diffraction identifications. Supplementary Tables S1-S3 were acquired and inventoried separately; no cells are imported here. The article's historical ferrokësterite formula is not substituted for current IMA nomenclature.
    https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-34-493-2022 (accessed 2026-10-12)
  4. teh_1979: Teh GH (1979). Recovery of tin by geomicrobiological techniques. Warta Geologi 5(6), 85-91, November-December 1979. Official society issue PDF, article on PDF pages 3-9; complete original article and Figures 1-3 inspected. Experimental and Results text on printed pages 85-87; bacterial assay Figure 1 on page 89. No DOI verified.
    https://gsm.org.my/wp-content/uploads/gsm_file_2/702001-101558-PDF.pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
  5. ncbi_ferrooxidans: NCBI Taxonomy 920, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, with historical homotypic synonym Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Species-name mapping only; it does not identify or genomically authenticate the historical Ranstad experimental strain.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=920&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-12)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-12T06:00:03Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Added IMA-grounded stannite identity, qualified natural-specimen evidence and the complete 1979 bacterial-leaching study. Preserved synthetic versus natural arms, historical strain identification, pH and graph-scale conflicts, limited controls and non-product yields.

Record source: data/records/stannite.yaml