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Sulfosalt systematics: a review. Report of the sulfosalt sub-committee of the IMA Commission on Ore Mineralogy

Yves Moëlo, Secretary^1,*, Emil Makovicky, Associate Secretary^2,**, Nadejda N. Mozgova, past President of the Sulfosalt Sub-Committee³, John L. Jambor⁴, Nigel Cook⁵, Allan Pring⁶, Werner Paar⁷, Ernest H. Nickel⁸, Stephan Graeser⁹, Sven Karup-Møller¹⁰, Toni Balic-unic², William G. Mumme⁸, Filippo Vurro¹¹, Dan Topa⁷, Luca Bindi¹², Klaus Bente¹³ and Masaaki Shimizu¹⁴

¹ Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, UMR 6502 CNRS-Université de Nantes, 2, rue de la Houssinière, 44 322 Nantes Cedex 3, France
² Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Østervoldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
³ IGEM, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny per. 35, Moscow 109017, Russia
⁴ Leslie Research and Consulting, 316 Rosehill Wynd, Tsawwassen, B.C. V4M 3L9, Canada
⁵ Natural History Museum (Geology), University of Oslo, Postboks 1172 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway
⁶ South Australian Museum, Department of Mineralogy, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
⁷ Department of Materials Engineering and Physics, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstraße 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
⁸ CSIRO-Exploration & Mining, PO Box 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia
⁹ Naturhistorisches Museum, Augustinerstraße 2, 4001 Basel, Switzerland
¹⁰ Institute of Mineral Industry, Danish Technical University, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark
¹¹ Dipartimento Geomineralogico, Università degli Studi di Bari, via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
¹² Museo di Storia Naturale, Sezione di Mineralogia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, via La Pira 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
¹³ Institute of Mineralogy, Crystallography and Material Science, University of Leipzig, Scharnhorststraße 20, 04275 Leipzig, Germany
¹⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama 9308555, Japan

^* Corresponding author, e-mail: Yves.Moelo{at}cnrs-imn.fr

^** Corresponding author, e-mail: emilm{at}ged.ku.dk

This report deals with a general reexamination of the systematics of sulfosalts. It represents an update of the activity of the Sulfosalt Sub-Committee within the Commission on Ore Mineralogy of the International Mineralogical Association, in connection with the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC-IMA). Part I presents generalities of sulfosalt definition and nomenclature. After an extended chemical definition of sulfosalts, attention is focused on "classic" sulfosalts with As³⁺, Sb³⁺, Bi³⁺ or Te⁴⁺ as cations, corresponding to the general formula (Me⁺, Me'²⁺, etc.)_x [(Bi, Sb, As)³⁺,Te⁴⁺]_y [(S, Se, Te)^2–]_z (Me, Me': various metals). General aspects of their chemistry and classification principles are summarized, especially with regard to chemical substitutions and modular analysis of complex crystal structures. On this basis, Part II presents a review of sulfosalt systematics. Six main crystal-chemical sub-groups are distinguished (plus some unclassified species), concerning more than 220 valid mineral species. Among others whose status is questioned are those considered to be varieties of well-defined species; minerals with ill-defined X-ray data; those that are possibly identical species; and those that represent the potential revalidation of old species. More than 50 crystal structures still remain unsolved, among which about a half probably corresponds to new structure types.

Key-words: sulfosalt, nomenclature, crystal chemistry, systematics.