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Grandviewite is redefined on the basis of a reinvestigation of the holotype specimen from the Grandview mine, Arizona, USA, and additional specimens found in the Restauradora vein at the Capillitas mine, northwestern Argentina. Grandviewite from the Capillitas mine forms globular masses up to a couple of millimetres in diameter, formed by very thin platy to acicular lath-like crystals, greenish-pale blue in colour, pleochroic (X = colourless, Y = very pale blue and Z = greenish-pale blue), with pale blue streak and silky to a satiny lustre. Results of an electron-microprobe study and crystal-structure determination lead to the new ideal formula Cu3Al2(SO4)(OH)10⋅H2O, which requires (in wt.%) CuO 45.13, Al2O3 19.28, SO3 15.14, and H2O 20.45, total 100.00. Its empirical formulas are (Cu2.96Mn0.01)Σ2.97Al2.03(SO4)0.97(SiO4)0.03(AsO4)0.01(OH)9.97Cl0.01⋅H2O (Grandview mine) and Cu2.97(Al2.03Fe0.01)Σ2.04(SO4)0.95(SiO4)0.03(AsO4)0.01(PO4)0.01(OH)9.97Cl0.01⋅H2O (Capillitas mine). Grandviewite is triclinic, P $\bar{1}$ , with unit-cell parameters refined from powder X-ray diffraction data: a = 5.713(2), b = 10.1374(8), c = 10.9791(9) Å, α = 72.240(6)°, β = 82.79(2)°, γ = 86.07(2)°, V = 600.5(3) Å3 and Z = 2 (Grandview mine); and a = 5.749(3), b = 10.1388(13), c = 10.9656(16) Å, α = 72.344(1)°, β = 82.83(4)°, γ = 86.77(3)°, V = 604.2(3) Å3 and Z = 2 (Capillitas mine). The crystal structure of grandviewite from the Capillitas mine was solved by 3-dimensional electron diffraction analysis (R(obs)/wR(obs) = 0.1304/0.1316 for 6401/31007 observed reflections with I ≥ 3σ(I). Grandviewite contains infinite AlO6–Cu1–AlO6 slabs along a connected on both ends to Cu2 [4 + 1]–SO4 chains. The SO4 tetrahedra form a disordered chain along a connected to the Cu2 pyramids on one side and are otherwise stabilised by strong hydrogen bonds to surrounding units. The Raman and infrared spectra for samples from both occurrences are identical. The redefinition (new chemical formula and triclinic symmetry) has been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (number 21-K). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the structure of a new high lithium content zincolithosilicate (MZS‐1) obtained after hydrothermal treatment under high pressure from a glass precursor. After synthesis microcrystalline mixture of phases was obtained among which the main phase was unknown. Due to the sub micrometric size of the crystallites its structure was determined from precession‐assisted 3D electron diffraction measured at 100 K and refined using the dynamical theory of diffraction. More accurate lattice parameters are obtained from Rietveld refinement of synchrotron powder data collected at the ambient temperature. The characteristic framework is described at the ambient temperature using an average unit cell a0=8.57999(5) Å, b0=14.12332(8) Å, c0=4.96827(3) Å in the space group Ccc2. The structure of the new zeolitic 10‐membered ring zincosilicate with chemical formula per unit cell (SiO2)2Zn0.408LiO(OH)2(Li,H)2.184 (Z=4) is composed of undulated silicate layers made of fused 6‐membered rings connected via vertices of (Zn,Li)O4 tetrahedra. A weak superstructure doubling the a0 parameter is observed and is explained by a Zn/Li ordering within the (Zn,Li)O4 layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argentotetrahedrite-(Cd), Ag6(Cu4Cd2)Sb4S13, has been approved as a new mineral species by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association using samples from Rudno nad Hronom, Slovak Republic. It occurs as anhedral grains up to 30 μm in size, steel-grey to black in colour, with a metallic lustre, in association with greenockite and other tetrahedrite-group minerals [argentotetrahedrite-(Zn) and tetrahedrite-(Zn)], earlier base-metal minerals, Ag sulfides and sulfosalts (acanthite, pyrargyrite and polybasite) and later galena. Argentotetrahedrite-(Cd) is isotropic, grey in colour, with a creamy tint and rapidly (tens of minutes) tarnishes to orange–brown. Reflectance data for Commission on Ore Mineralogy (COM) wavelengths in air are [λ (nm), R (%)]: 470, 30.4; 546, 30.3; 589, 30.3; and 650, 28.7. The chemical formula of the samples studied, recalculated on the basis of Σ Me = 16 atoms per formula unit, is: (Ag3.28Cu2.72)Ʃ6.00[Cu4(Cd1.68Fe0.27Zn0.16)]Ʃ6.11(Sb3.71As0.15)Ʃ3.86S12.79. Argentotetrahedrite-(Cd) is cubic, I $\bar{4}$ 3 m , with a = 10.65(2) Å, V = 1208(4) Å3 and Z = 2. Argentotetrahedrite-(Cd) is isotypic with other members of the tetrahedrite group. The structural relationship between argentotetrahedrite-(Cd) and other members of the freibergite series are discussed and previous findings of this species are briefly reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]