Breithauptite - Cobalt area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario , Canada - Two views of same specimen — Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 3.0
Breithauptite
A copper-red nickel antimonide — an opaque metallic hexagonal mineral.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Breithauptite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the sulfide class, with the chemical formula NiSb.
It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system (space group P6_3mc). It is a member of the Nickeline structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 5.5; specific gravity 7.59–8.23; Reddish brown streak; Metallic luster.
IMA symbol Bhp, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1845.
Found in hydrothermal calcite veins in association with Co–Ni–Ag ores.
It is found associated with Silver, nickeline, maucherite, cobaltite, ullmannite, tetrahedrite, pyrrhotite, cubanite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, calcite.
The mineral was named to honor Saxon mineralogist Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt (1791–1873).