THE MINERAL JORDANITE

Chemistry: Pb₁₄(As, Sb)₆S₂₃, Lead Arsenic Antimony Sulfide
Class: Sulfides
Subclass: Sulfosalts
Uses: As a very minor ore of lead and arsenic and as mineral specimens.
Specimens

Jordanite forms sharp, nicely formed crystals sometimes with deep striations. The contrasting dark gray to black, high lustered mineral sitting on a backdrop of massive white dolomitic marble makes for a very nice mineral display specimen. Jordanite is a rare sulfide mineral found mostly at the famous quarry of Lengenbach, Binnental, Valais, Switzerland. Most of the more exotic minerals from this site are arsenic sulfosalts, like jordanite, and other sulfides. Some of the rare minerals from here include: novakite, seligmannite, rathite, sartorite, smythite, wallisite, lengenbachite, bernardite, baumhauerite, arsenolamprite, liveingite, dufrenoysite, marrite, imhofite and hatchite to name a few. Jordanite is a mineral formed from hydrothermal solutions that intermixed with the local country rock's chemistry to produce some exotic mineral species. Jordanite is isomorphous with the mineral geocronite, Pb₁₄(Sb, As)₆S₂₃ which means that they both have the same structure, just different chemistries. In this case jordanite is the arsenic rich mineral and geocronite is the antimony rich mineral.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Color is a lead gray to black.
Luster is metallic.
Transparency: Crystals are opaque.
Crystal System: Monoclinic; 2/m.
Crystal Habits include deeply striated prismatic and dipyramidal crystals and pseudohexagonal twins; also globular and granular forms.
Cleavage is poor in one direction.
Fracture: Conchoidal.
Hardness is 3.
Specific Gravity is 5.5 - 6.4 (heavier than average for metallic minerals)
Streak is dark brown.
Associated Minerals include lengenbachite, pyrite, bournonite, seligmannite, breithauptite, nisbite, costibite, arsenopyrite, gudmundite, meneghinite, sphalerite and dolomite.
Notable Occurrences are limited to the type locality, the Lengenbach Quarry, Binnental, Valais, Switzerland as well as Zuni Mine, Silverton, San Juan County, Colorado and Sinking Valley, Pennsylvania, USA.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, locality, striations, associations and density.

Amethyst Galleries'
Mineral Gallery
MINERALS

Birthstones
Gemstones
By Name
Framed
Unframed
By Class: Carbonates; Elements; Halides; Oxides; Phosphates; Silicates; Sulfates; Sulfides
Fluorescent Minerals
Properties
Rocks
Search
Books

JORDANITE specimens:
(hover for more info)

JORDANITE specimen jor-1
$ 48.00

Dims: 1.2x0.7x0.6" (3.1x1.7x1.6 cm)

Wt: 0.42 oz. (12.0g)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wieslock, Baden, Germany

This thumbnail specimen is mostly jordanite, as intergrown balls of botryoidal silver colored crystals. The original surface of the jordanite is uniformly coated with a brown sparkling druse of "shalenblende", a mixture of sphalerite and wurtzite. This coating has been removed in some areas to expose the rounded surface of the jordanite, while most of the exposed mineral is fracture surfaces.

jor-1 ($ 48.00)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wieslock, Baden, Germany

JORDANITE specimen jor-3
$ 35.00

Dims: 1.65x1.54x0.87" (4.2x3.9x2.2cm)

Wt: 1.78 oz. (50.4g)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wiesloch, Baden, Germany

This specimen contains a variety of minerals, but is mostly jordanite. The jordanite occurs in two habits, although neither presents well. The base of the specimen is intergrown crystals of jordanite (everthing black) with some quartz. Some of the crystals show good cleavage, and a few (with the aid of a loupe) show the characteristic deep striations of the species. These crystals are black, opaque, and have a metallic luster. Above this is a layer of a light brown mineral, and then a layer of jordanite with a globular habit, although all of this is only visible from the side - there are no exposed globules, as a layer of somewhat dirty quartz crystals covers the top of the specimen. This jordanite appears massive, as there are no indications of crystals, merely concentric patterns of light quartz and dark jordanite.

jor-3 ($ 35.00)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wiesloch, Baden, Germany

JORDANITE specimen jor-2
$ 29.00

Dims: 0.87x0.67x0.46" (2.22x1.71x1.17cm)

Wt: 0.20 oz. (5.54g)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wiesloch, Baden, Germany

This thumbnail specimen consists mostly of jordanite, at least on the surface. It is a rather attractive lead-gray mineral with a high metallic luster. It appears to have a nearly botryoidal habit, although this may be a fracture pattern or even a pseudomorph, as this specimen also contains other minerals, at least one of which is definately in a botryoidal habit. Except for a vein of colorless calcite, I have not identified any of the other minerals, which include a dull green botryoidal crust, a sparkly brown crust, a patch that looks like a metal sulfide, and some tiny black metallic crystals that I suspect are more jordanite, although they are too tiny for me to be sure.

jor-2 ($ 29.00)

Segen Gottes Mine, Wiesloch, Baden, Germany