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Altaite



Altaite

Altaite from New Mexico
General
CategoryMineral
Chemical formulaPbTe
Identification
Molecular Weight334.8 g/mol
Colortin white to yellowish white; tarnishing to bronze yellow
Crystal habitinclude cubic and octahedral crystals; but much more commonly found in massive and granular forms
Crystal systemIsometric
Cleavageperfect in three directions forming cubes
FractureUneven
Mohs Scale hardness2.5 - 3
Lustermetallic
StreakBlack
Specific gravity8.2 - 8.3

Altaite also known as lead telluride is a yellowish white mineral with an isometric crystal structure. Altaite is in the galena group of minerals as it shares many of properties of galena. Altaite has an unusually high density for a light colored mineral. Altaite and other rare tellurides are classified in the sulfide mineral class (Dana classification).

Altaite was discovered in 1845 in the Altai Mountains. Besides these mountains altaite can also be found in Zyrianovsk, Kazakhstan; the Ritchie Creek Deposit in Price County, Wisconsin; the Koch-Bulak gold deposit in Kazakhstan; Moctezuma, Mexico; and Coquimbo, Chile among other locations.

See also

List of minerals

References

  • Mindat data with locations
  • Webmineral data
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Altaite". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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