Parkerite

parkerite

niccolite

maucherite

siegenite

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Formula: Ni3(Bi,Pb)2S2
Sulphosalt, nickel- and bismuth- bearing mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 8.4 measured, 8.50 calculated
Hardness: 2
Streak: Black
Colour: Pale bronze
Solubility: Soluble in concentrated nitric acid
Environments

Plutonic igneous environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments

Parkerite occurs in norite (Mindat) as grains in other hydrothermal sulphides and arsenides. Associated minerals include galena, bismuth, bismuthinite, tetradymite, hessite, cubanite, maucherite, nickeline, sperrylite, gold, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, siegenite and bravoite (HOM).
In pegmatitic or marginal parts of magmatic nickeliferous pyrrhotite deposits, parkerite is connected with pentlandite, chalcopyrite, cubanite, galena, bismuth-bearing minerals, tellurides, sperrylite, gold and many others (Ramdohr p405).

Localities

There are two co-type localities, the Frood mine, McKim Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada, and the Waterfall gorge, Insizwa, Umzimvubu Local Municipality, Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

At the Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, parkerite occurs as small inclusions in nickeline and is associated with native bismuth (CM 9.610-612).

At the Frood mine, McKim Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada (one of the type localities), Parkerite is found in small stringers and veinlets in the extremities of the ore-body, where it occurs sparingly in association with galena, native bismuth, bismuthinite, tetradymite, hessite, cubanite, maucherite, nickeline, sperrylite and gold, together with the prevailing chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pentlandite. The association with galena is particularly persistent and characteristic. As a group these minerals occur around the margins of the main copper - nickel - iron sulphides; parkerite has not been found in the central part of the larger sulphide mass (AM 28.343-355).

At the Langis Mine, Casey Township, Cobalt Area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, the sulphides consist of two sub-assemblages, one of bravoite and marcasite intimately intergrown and containing associated chalcopyrite and sphalerite, and the other of bismuthinite, cobaltpentlandite, siegenite, parkerite, bravoite and late bravoite. The parkerite occurs as a component of sulphide grains within arsenides. The sulphide grains consist of bismuthinite, parkerite, native bismuth, cobaltpentlandite, siegenite and bravoits. The parkerite generally surrounds native bismuth, and is either intergrown with, or adjacent to, bismuthinite. In some places it is surrounded by cobaltpentlandite and siegenite, and in other places it is adjacent to these minerals. The parkerite grains are up to 0.5 mm in size (CM 9.610-612).

At Waterfall gorge, Insizwa, Umzimvubu Local Municipality, Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa (one of the type localities), The parkerite occurs in nickeliferous deposits and is associated with galena, native bismuth, nickeline, maucherite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite and sperrylite (CM 9.610-612).

The North Mine, Devon United Mines, Peter Tavy, West Devon, Devon, England, UK, is situated within the metamorphic aureole of the Dartmoor Granite with the country rock comprising Carboniferous (358.9 to 298.9 million years ago) shale, metasediments and greenstone. Parkerite has been identified as grains up to 50 microns across in quartz-fluorite veinstone. Associated minerals include sphalerite, ullmannite, bismuth, bismite, gersdorffite and cassiterite (M&M 25.19-22).

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