HAUERITE

    Class : Sulfides and sulfosalts
    Subclass : Sulfides
    Crystal system : Cubic
    Chemistry : MnS2
    Rarity : Rare

Hauerite is a rare mineral present in salt sediments (evaporites and salt domes), constantly associated with gypsum and native sulphur, because its growth requires an environment supersaturated with sulfur. It is exceptional in iron and manganese nodules on the ocean floor. It was named in honor of Austrian geologists Joseph Ritter von Hauer and his son. Hauerite forms octahedral crystals, rarely cubo-octahedrons, sometimes centimetric. Hauerite is also massive, grainy, in globular assemblages. It is a dark red to reddish brown mineral, tarnishing to matte black. The luster is strong, metallic to adamantine.

Main photo : 2.5 cm hauerite from Destricella Mine, Raddusa, Sicily, Italy © Laszlo Kupi

Hauerite in the World

The most beautiful hauerite crystals come from the sulfur mines of Raddusa (Sicily: exceptional crystals of 7 cm), and those of Texas (5 cm crystals in salt diapirs with native sulfur). Other beautiful samples are known from the Kalinka trachytes (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia).

Right photo : Hauerite from Jeziórko Mine, Nowa Deba, Poland © Eligiusz Szeleg

Hauerite in France

Hauerite is not known in the French underground.

Twinning

No twins known for this mineral species.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes recorded for this mineral species.


Hardness : 4
Density : 3.46
Fracture : Sub-conchoidal
Streak : Reddish-brown

TP : Opaque
RI : 2.69
Birefringence : 0
Optical character : None
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : Hydrochloric acid

Magnetism : NoneRadioactivity : None