Hemusite, Kawazu mine, National Natural History Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria — Photo: Vassto · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hemusite
A very rare isometric gray copper-tin-molybdenum sulfide.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Hemusite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the sulfide class, with the chemical formula Cu¹⁺₄Cu²⁺₂SnMoS₈.
It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system. It is a member of the Sphalerite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4.
IMA symbol Hm, IMA status: approved, named in 1968.
Of hydrothermal origin, early formed in the mineral association (Chelopech, Bulgaria); in a polymetallic deposit in carboniferous porphyritic andesites (Kochbulak deposit, Uzbekistan).
It is found associated with Enargite, luzonite, colusite, stannoidite, reniérite, tennantite, chalcopyrite, pyrite (Chelopech, Bulgaria).
The name commemorates an ancient name for the Balkan Mountains, on the southern slope of which the Chelopech deposit occurs; probably of Thracian origin.