Outstanding sharp yellow brown natanite crystals associated to globular black jacobsite from Potosi Mine, Francisco Portillo, Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico. — Photo: David Hospital · CC BY-SA 4.0
Natanite
Natanite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the oxides & hydroxide class, with the chemical formula Fe²⁺Sn⁴⁺(OH)₆.
It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system (space group Pn3). It is a member of the Perovskite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4.7; specific gravity 4.035; Vitreous luster.
IMA symbol Ntn, IMA status: approved, named in 1980.
produced through oxidation of earlier tin sulfides in tin deposits.
It is found associated with Stannite, vismirnovite, malachite, azurite, goethite (Mushiston deposit, Tajikistan); hocartite (Chat-Karagai deposit, Russia); nevskite, wolframite.
The mineral was named to honor Professor Natan (Antolii) Il’ich Ginzburg (1917–1984), mineralogist and geologist, All-Union Research Institute of Mineral Resources, Moscow, Russia.