Yafsoanite
Yafsoanite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the oxides & hydroxide class, with the chemical formula Ca₃Te⁶⁺₂(ZnO₄)₃.
It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system (space group I4_132). It is a member of the Garnet structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 6; specific gravity 5.4–5.55; Vitreous luster.
IMA symbol Yaf, IMA status: approved, named in 1981.
Very rare in a tellurium-bearing gold quartz deposit in dolomite–calcite (Kuranakh deposit, Russia); in the oxidized zone of a hydrothermal ore deposit (Empire mine, Arizona, USA).
It is found associated with Gold, tiemannite, naumannite, clausthalite, altaite, cinnabar, orpiment, kuranakhite, Si-rich dugganite, cheremnykhite, kuksite, descloizite, calcite, quartz.
The name refers to the Yakutskii Filial Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Akademii Nauk (Yakut Filial, Siberian Branch, Academy of Sciences, YAFSOAN in Russian).