Patronite
Species (IMA name: Patrónite)
Very Rare · VS₄
Vanadium sulfide, lead grey when fresh and grey black when old. Described in 1906 from Minas Ragra near Cerro de Pasco, Peru, found by the metallurgist Antenor Rizo-Patrón: there it filled fissures in red shales with vanadian asphaltite and coke, and was a major ore of what was the world's richest vanadium deposit. Almost unknown elsewhere.
Identity
- Formula
- VS₄
- Chemical class
- Sulfide
- Also known as
- Patrónite
- Ore of
- Vanadium
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Habits
- Columnar, Massive
- Fracture
- Uneven
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2
- Density
- 2.82 g/cm³
- Luster
- Metallic
- Colors
- lead-gray, black
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Sedimentary
- Host rocks
- Sandstone, shale and clay
- Associated minerals
- Sulfur, Pyrite, Quartz
- Geography
- Peru (Minas Ragra, Cerro de Pasco)
Classification
- Rarity
- Very Rare
- 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, Patrónite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Patrónite. Wikipedia.
- Patrónite: Mineral information, data and localities. mindat.org.
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