Kambaldaite, NaNi₄(CO₃)₃(OH)₃·3H₂O, is an extremely rare hydrated

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

carbonate mineral Carbonate minerals are those minerals containing the carbonate ion, . Carbonate divisions Anhydrous carbonates *Calcite group: trigonal **Calcite CaCO3 **Gaspéite (Ni,Mg,Fe2+)CO3 **Magnesite MgCO3 **Otavite CdCO3 **Rhodochrosite MnCO3 **Sider ...

described from

gossan Gossan (eiserner hut or eisenhut) is intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein. In the ''classic'' gossan or iron cap all that remains is iron oxides and quartz, often i ...

ous material associated with

Kambalda type komatiitic nickel ore deposits Kambalda type komatiitic nickel ore deposits are a class of magmatic iron-nickel-copper-platinum-group element ore deposit in which the physical processes of komatiite volcanology serve to deposit, concentrate and enrich a Fe-Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulfide ...

Kambalda, Western Australia Kambalda is a small mining town about from the mining city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, within the Goldfields. It is split into two townsites apart, Kambalda East and Kambalda West; and is located on the western edge of a giant salt ...

, and Widgie Townsite nickel gossan, Widgiemooltha,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Kambaldaite crystallizes in the hexagonal system, is light green to blue, and forms drusy to mammilla encrustations on the matrix. Kambaldaite was first described in 1985 from the gossan of the Otter Shoot nickel orebody, Kambalda, during mining of the gossans material. Kambaldaite, though in lesser and rarer amount, is also found in the Widgiemooltha nickel gossans, probably discovered there in the early to mid-1990s.

Paragenesis

Kambaldaite is formed in the

regolith Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...

as a

supergene A supergene is a chromosomal region encompassing multiple neighboring genes that are inherited together because of close genetic linkage, i.e. much less recombination than would normally be expected. This mode of inheritance can be due to genomic ...

alteration mineral of nickel sulfide minerals, in arid or semi-arid environments which produce conditions amenable to a concentration of calcareous or carbonate minerals in the weathering profile. Kambaldaite from Kambalda and Widgiemooltha is associated with komatiite-associated nickel sulfide gossans and is probably formed by substitution of nickel into carbonates such as

magnesite Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula (magnesium carbonate). Iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may occur as admixtures, but only in small amounts. Occurrence Magnesite occurs as veins in and an alteration product of ultramafic ro ...

which are formed by oxidation of the lithology, and oxidation of primary and supergene nickel sulfide minerals. Kambaldaite is formed from a similar process to the weathering of other sulfide minerals to form carbonate minerals. The sulfide minerals which are weathered to produce kambaldaite are

pentlandite Pentlandite is an iron–nickel sulfide with the chemical formula . Pentlandite has a narrow variation range in Ni:Fe but it is usually described as having a Ni:Fe of 1:1. It also contains minor cobalt, usually at low levels as a fraction of wei ...

violarite Violarite ( Fe2+ Ni23+ S4) is a supergene sulfide mineral associated with the weathering and oxidation of primary pentlandite nickel sulfide ore minerals. Violarite crystallises in the isometric system, with a hardness of 4.5 to 5.5 and a speci ...

millerite Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, Ni S. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general l ...

and rarely

nickeline Nickeline or niccolite is a mineral consisting primarily of nickel arsenide (NiAs). The naturally-occurring mineral contains roughly 43.9% nickel and 56.1% arsenic by mass, but composition of the mineral may vary slightly. Small quantities of s ...

Occurrence

Kambaldaite is associated with

goethite Goethite (, ) is a mineral of the diaspore group, consisting of iron(III) oxide-hydroxide, specifically the "α" polymorph. It is found in soil and other low-temperature environments such as sediment. Goethite has been well known since ancient t ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures ...

annabergite Annabergite is an arsenate mineral consisting of a hydrous nickel arsenate, Ni3(AsO4)2·8H2O, crystallizing in the monoclinic system and isomorphous with vivianite and erythrite. Crystals are minute and capillary and rarely met with, the mineral ...

, gaspeite and

in the nickel sulfide gossans of Kambalda and Widgiemooltha. It is not known from other nickel sulfide gossans within the

Yilgarn Craton The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton that constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts. Zircon grains in the Jack Hills, Narryer Terrane have be ...

, potentially due to many of these existing within areas of

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

cover, deeper

development, or less favorable rainfall conditions. Kambaldaite has not reported from the

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

n or

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

nickel carbonate occurrences because it is a

carbonate mineral and not a

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

mineral. Kambaldaite is also reported from the Inn valley, North Tyrol,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and from Linopolis,

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

References

* * Thornber, M. R. (1972) ''Pyrrhotite-the matrix of nickel sulfide mineralization.'' Newcastle Conference, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, May-June, 1972, 51-58. * Thornber, M. R. (1975a) ''Supergene alteration of sulfides, I. A chemical model based on massive nickel sulfide deposits at Kambalda, Western Australia.'' Chemical Geology, 15, 1-14. * Thornber, M. R. (1975b) ''Supergene alteration of sulfides, II. A chemical study of the Kambalda nickel deposits.'' Chemical Geology, 151 117-144. *
Kambaldaite on Mindat.org
{{carbonate-mineral-stub Nickel minerals Carbonate minerals Sodium minerals Hexagonal minerals Minerals in space group 173 Nickel mining in Western Australia

Paragenesis

Occurrence

See also

References