Oosterboschite is a rare
selenide A selenide is a chemical compound containing a selenium anion with oxidation number of −2 (Se2−), much as sulfur does in a sulfide. The chemistry of the selenides and sulfides is similar. Similar to sulfide, in aqueous solution, the selenide ion ...
mineral with the formula . It crystallises in the
orthorhombic crystal system
In crystallography, the orthorhombic crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Orthorhombic lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along two of its orthogonal pairs by two different factors, resulting in a rectangular prism with ...
. It has a creamy yellow colour and a
Moh's hardness of 5.
It is often found as grains with no clear shape. The crystals are opaque and often no bigger than 0.4 mm.
Occurrence
The mineral was approved by the
IMA in 1970, after being discovered in the Musonoi Cu–Co mine, near
Kolwezi
Kolwezi or Kolwesi is the capital city of Lualaba Province in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Likasi. It is home to an airport and a railway to Lubumbashi. Just outside of Kolwezi there is the static inverter plant ...
,
Katanga Province,
Congo. It was later also discovered at the Copper Hills prospect,
East Pilbara,
Australia, and at Hope’s Nose,
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
It is often found in the oxidation zones of the mines, together with
verbeekite,
trogtalite
Trogtalite is a rare selenide mineral with the formula Co Se2. It crystallizes in the cubic system and is part of the pyrite group, consisting of Co2+ and Se22− ions. It has a rose-violet colour and its crystals are opaque. It often occurs as ...
,
selenian digenite,
covellite
Covellite (also known as covelline) is a rare copper sulfide mineral with the formula CuS. This indigo blue mineral is commonly a secondary mineral in limited abundance and although it is not an important ore of copper itself, it is well known t ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
, and
chrisstanleyite. It was named after Robert Oosterbosch, a Belgian mining engineer that was very active in the Katanga region, where the type locality is also located.
See also
*
List of minerals
This is a list of minerals for which there are articles on Wikipedia.
Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various ''species''. Within a m ...
*
List of minerals named after people
This is a list of minerals named after people. The chemical composition follows name.
A
* Abelsonite: C31H32N4Ni – American physicist Philip Hauge Abelson (1913–2004)alfred
*Abswurmbachite: Cu2+Mn3+6O8SiO4 – German mineralogist I ...
References
{{Reflist
Selenide minerals
Copper minerals
Palladium minerals
Orthorhombic minerals