Bismuthinite
Species
Uncommon · Bi₂S₃
Bismuth sulfide, lead grey to tin white with a yellowish or iridescent tarnish, in striated needles and foliated masses soft enough to scratch with a fingernail. An important ore of bismuth, from hydrothermal veins, often with cassiterite and wolframite, from tourmaline-bearing copper veins in granite and from high-temperature gold veins; first reported from the mines of Potosí in 1832.
Identity
- Formula
- Bi₂S₃
- Chemical class
- Sulfide
- Ore of
- Bismuth
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Habits
- Prismatic, Acicular, Foliated, Fibrous, Massive
- Fracture
- Uneven
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2
- Density
- 6.78 g/cm³
- Luster
- Metallic
- Colors
- lead-gray, tin white
- Streak
- lead-gray
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Hydrothermal, Volcanic
- Host rocks
- Granite
- Associated minerals
- Bismuth, Arsenopyrite, Stannite, Galena, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite, Tourmaline, Wolframite, Cassiterite, Quartz
- Found in
- Hydrothermal vein (lode)
- Geography
- Bolivia (Llallagua, Huanuni, Tazna, Potosí), Germany (Schneeberg, Altenberg), England (Cornwall), Romania (Băița), Australia (Biggenden, Queensland)
Classification
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- M. Pasero and others, IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, The New IMA List of Minerals, updated September 2026. International Mineralogical Association (CNMNC), 2026.
- J. W. Anthony, R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, M. C. Nichols, Bismuthinite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Bismuthinite. Wikipedia.
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