Sperrylite

Sperrylite is a <a href="/facts/Platinum/qJC6lQf7">platinum</a> <a href="/facts/Arsenide/UpkRk4uf">arsenide</a> <a href="/facts/Mineral/LkUFbNmv">mineral</a> with the chemical formula PtAs2 and is an opaque metallic tin white mineral which crystallizes in the <a href="/facts/Cubic_(crystal_system)/92Co7BKM">isometric</a> system with the <a href="/facts/Pyrite_group/hoPHxVue">pyrite group</a> structure. It forms cubic, octahedral or pyritohedral <a href="/facts/Crystal/e2R2mk3E">crystals</a> in addition to massive and reniform habits. It has a <a href="/facts/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness/wXBMcVIm">Mohs hardness</a> of 6–7 and a very high <a href="/facts/Relative_density/ySquGd2x">specific gravity</a> of 10.6.
It was discovered by the American chemist Francis Louis Sperry in 1888-89 in ore from the Vermillion Mine, part of the <a href="/facts/Sudbury_Basin/poJSD267">Sudbury Basin</a> discoveries, as he did a <a href="/facts/Fire_assay/W3uFjzUL">fire assay</a> to determine the <a href="/facts/Gold/1znknojp">gold</a> content of the ore for the <a href="/facts/Canadian_Copper_Company/yRqLwkL9">Canadian Copper Company</a> who were interested by the property.
The most important occurrence of sperrylite is in the <a href="/facts/Nickel/KwMCHYRP">nickel</a> <a href="/facts/Ore/kgc9DssX">ore</a> deposit of <a href="/facts/Sudbury_Basin/poJSD267">Sudbury Basin</a> in <a href="/facts/Ontario/HUkxk5Rf">Ontario</a>, <a href="/facts/Canada/cWWFM8oc">Canada</a>. It also occurs in the layered <a href="/facts/Igneous/xeMJhUah">igneous</a> complex of the <a href="/facts/Bushveld/P0te2Bbj">Bushveld</a> region of <a href="/facts/South_Africa/vvXQpLgq">South Africa</a> and the Oktyabr'skoye copper-nickel deposit near <a href="/facts/Noril%27sk/NcH8HMy2">Noril'sk</a>, <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a>.

Sperrylite open-in-new

Sperrylite