| Cattierite | |
| Category: | Sulfide mineral |
| Formula: | CoS2 |
| Imasymbol: | Cat[1] |
| Strunz: | 2.EB.05a |
| System: | Cubic |
| Class: | Diploidal (m) H-M symbol: (2/m) |
| Symmetry: | Pa |
| Unit Cell: | a = 5.52 Å; Z = 4 |
| Color: | Pink to grayish white |
| Habit: | Cubic crystals and granular intergrowths |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on |
| Mohs: | 4 |
| Luster: | Metallic |
| Diaphaneity: | Opaque |
| Gravity: | 4.82 |
| Opticalprop: | Isotropic |
| References: | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
Cattierite (CoS2) is a cobalt sulfide mineral found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was discovered together with the nickel sulfide vaesite by Johannes F. Vaes, a Belgian mineralogist and named after Felicien Cattier, who was chairman of the board of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga.[6]
The mineral belongs to the pyrite group, in which all minerals share the same building principle. The metal in the oxidation state +2 forms a sodium chloride structure together with the anion S22−. This formalism recognizes that the sulfur atoms in pyrite occur in pairs with clear S-S bonds.
It occurs with pyrite, chalcopyrite and members of the linnaeite – polydymite group in ore deposits in carbonate rocks. In addition to the type locality in the Katanga district it is reported from Gansberg, Black Forest, Germany; near Filipstad, Varmland, Sweden; Bald Knob, near Sparta, Alleghany County, North Carolina and in the Fletcher mine of Reynolds County, Missouri.[3]