Antimonselite

antimonselite

galena

uraninite

cinnabar

It is sometimes difficult for foreigners to get permission to visit some places in China, particularly mining areas, so you are unlikely to see this uranium deposit, but Guizhou Province has other wonders of nature that you will never regret visiting, if you have the chance. There is the 255 ft high Huangguoshu waterfall, near Anshun city, karst formations, and the stunning sacred mountain Fanjingshan, accessible, with considerable difficulty, from Tongren.

Images

Formula: Sb2Se3
Selenide of antimony, stibnite group
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 5.88 calculated
Hardness: 3½
Streak: Black
Colour: Black
Common impurities: Hg,Cu,As,S
Environments

Hydrothermal environments

Localities

At the type locality, U deposit No. 504, Kaiyang County, Guiyang, Guizhou, China, antimonselite is found in uranium-bearing calcite veins in a uranium - mercury - molybdenum polymetallic deposit. It is very fine in grain size, no more than twenty microns across, and occurs as anhedral grains and euhedral acicular crystals in radiating aggregates. Associated minerals include coccinite, ferroselite, clausthalite and a number of unidentified selenium minerals. Other minerals in association with antimonselite are pyrite, colloidal pyrite, sphalerite, galena, cinnabar, uraninite, hematite and calcite. Antimonselite was formed between 135oC and 148oC (Acta Mineralogica Sinica 13.1.7-11).

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