Semseyite is a rarely occurring

sulfosalt mineral Sulfosalt minerals are sulfide minerals with the general formula , where *A represents a metal such as copper, lead, silver, iron, and rarely mercury (element), mercury, zinc, vanadium *B usually represents semi-metal such as arsenic, antimony, b ...

and is part of the class of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...

sulfides Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds la ...

. It crystallizes in the

monoclinic In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...

system with the chemical composition Pb₉Sb₈S₂₁. The mineral forms dark gray to black aggregates.

Etymology and history

Semseyite was first described for an occurrence in the Felsöbánya mine in

Baia Sprie Baia Sprie (; hu, Felsőbánya, german: Mittelstadt) is a town in Maramureș County, northern Romania. Baia Sprie is situated at a distance of from Baia Mare. The town administers three villages: Chiuzbaia (''Kisbánya''), Satu Nou de Sus (''F ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in 1881 by

József Sándor Krenner József Sándor Krenner or Joseph Krenner (3 March 1839 – 6 January 1920) was a Hungarian mineralogist. He discovered several new minerals. Krenner was born in Buda and studied at the University of Pest, Vienna and Tübingen mineralogy and geolo ...

(1839–1920). The mineral was named after Hungarian mineralogist Andor von Semsey (1833–1923).

Occurrence

Semseyite forms in

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 ...

solutions at temperatures between 300 and 350 °C.Andreas Kamrath: “Geology and mineralogy of ore stores Herja”
It occurs in association with

bournonite Bournonite is a sulfosalt mineral species, trithioantimoniate of lead and copper with the formula PbCuSbS3. It was first mentioned by Philip Rashleigh in 1797 as an ore of antimony and was more completely described in 1804 by French crystallo ...

jamesonite Jamesonite is a sulfosalt mineral, a lead, iron, antimony sulfide with formula Pb4FeSb6S14. With the addition of manganese it forms a series with benavidesite.http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/jamesonite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy It is a ...

sphalerite Sphalerite (sometimes spelled sphaelerite) is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in Sedimentary exhalative deposits, sedimen ...

zinkenite Zinkenite is a steel-gray metallic sulfosalt mineral composed of lead antimony sulfide Pb9 Sb22 S42. Zinkenite occurs as acicular needle-like crystals. It was first described in 1826 for an occurrence in the Harz Mountains, Saxony-Anhalt, Germa ...

, sorbyite, guettardite,

jordanite Jordanite is a sulfosalt mineral with chemical formula in the monoclinic crystal system, named after the German scientist H. Jordan (1808–1887) who discovered it in 1864. Lead-grey in colour (frequently displaying an iridescent tarnish), its ...

, diaphorite,

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...

tetrahedrite Tetrahedrite is a copper antimony sulfosalt mineral with formula: . It is the antimony endmember of the continuous solid solution series with arsenic-bearing tennantite. Pure endmembers of the series are seldom if ever seen in nature. Of the two, ...

arsenopyrite Arsenopyrite ( IMA symbol: Apy) is an iron arsenic sulfide (FeAsS). It is a hard ( Mohs 5.5-6) metallic, opaque, steel grey to silver white mineral with a relatively high specific gravity of 6.1. When dissolved in nitric acid, it releases eleme ...

and

siderite Siderite is a mineral composed of iron(II) carbonate (FeCO3). It takes its name from the Greek word σίδηρος ''sideros,'' "iron". It is a valuable iron mineral, since it is 48% iron and contains no sulfur or phosphorus. Zinc, magnesium and ...

Images

File:Semseyite-119346.jpg, Semseyite from Baia Sprie, Maramures County, Romania File:Semseyite-168834.jpg, Cluster of semseyite crystals on massive sulfide matrix File:Semseyite-Quartz-168835.jpg, A spray of semseyite crystals perched, freestanding, at the apex of a cluster of quartz crystals File:Semseyite-Sphalerite-199597.jpg, Vug filled with clusters of sprays of lightly iridescent, metallic-lustre semseyite blades on sphalerite matrix

References

{{Commonscat, Semseyite Lead minerals Antimony minerals Sulfide minerals Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 15