Cassiterite (original) (raw)

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Tin oxide mineral

Cassiterite
Cassiterite with muscovite, from Xuebaoding, Huya, Pingwu, Mianyang, Sichuan, China (size: 100 x 95 mm, 1128 g)
General
Category Oxide minerals
Formula(repeating unit) SnO2
IMA symbol Cst[1]
Strunz classification 4.DB.05
Crystal system Tetragonal
Crystal class Ditetragonal dipyramidal (4/mmm) H-M symbol: (4/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group _P4_2/mnm
Unit cell a = 4.7382(4) Å, c = 3.1871(1) Å; Z = 2
Identification
Color Black, brownish black, reddish brown, brown, red, yellow, gray, white; rarely colorless
Crystal habit Pyramidic, prismatic, radially fibrous botryoidal crusts and concretionary masses; coarse to fine granular, massive
Twinning Very common on {011}, as contact and penetration twins, geniculated; lamellar
Cleavage {100} imperfect, {110} indistinct; partings on {111} or {011}
Fracture Subconchoidal to uneven
Tenacity Brittle
Mohs scale hardness 6–7
Luster Adamantine to adamantine metallic, splendent; may be greasy on fractures
Streak White to brownish
Diaphaneity Transparent when light colored, dark material nearly opaque; commonly zoned
Specific gravity 6.98–7.1
Optical properties Uniaxial (+)
Refractive index nω = 1.990–2.010 nε = 2.093–2.100
Birefringence δ = 0.103
Pleochroism Pleochroic haloes have been observed. Dichroic in yellow, green, red, brown, usually weak, or absent, but strong at times
Fusibility infusible
Solubility insoluble
References [2][3][4][5][6]

Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains the most important source of tin today.

Cassiterite bipyramids, edge length c. 30 mm, Sichuan, China

Close up of cassiterite crystals, Blue Tier tinfield, Tasmania, Australia

Most sources of cassiterite today are found in alluvial or placer deposits containing the weathering-resistant grains. The best sources of primary cassiterite are found in the tin mines of Bolivia, where it is found in crystallised hydrothermal veins. Rwanda has a nascent cassiterite mining industry. Fighting over cassiterite deposits (particularly in Walikale) is a major cause of the conflict waged in eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[7][8] This has led to cassiterite being considered a conflict mineral.

Cassiterite is a widespread minor constituent of igneous rocks. The Bolivian veins and the 4500 year old workings of Cornwall and Devon, England, are concentrated in high temperature quartz veins and pegmatites associated with granitic intrusives. The veins commonly contain tourmaline, topaz, fluorite, apatite, wolframite, molybdenite, and arsenopyrite. The mineral occurs extensively in Cornwall as surface deposits on Bodmin Moor, for example, where there are extensive traces of a hydraulic mining method known as streaming. The current major tin production comes from placer or alluvial deposits in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maakhir region of Somalia, and Russia. Hydraulic mining methods are used to concentrate mined ore, a process which relies on the high specific gravity of the SnO2 ore, of about 7.0.

Crystal structure of cassiterite

Crystal twinning is common in cassiterite and most aggregate specimens show crystal twins. The typical twin is bent at a near-60-degree angle, forming an "elbow twin". Botryoidal or reniform cassiterite is called wood tin.

Cassiterite is also used as a gemstone and collector specimens when quality crystals are found.

Stalactitic-botryoidal, banded, "wood tin" cassiterite, 5.0 cm × 4.9 cm × 3.3 cm (2.0 in × 1.9 in × 1.3 in), Durango, Mexico

The name derives from the Greek κασσίτερος (transliterated as "kassiteros") for "tin".[9] Early references to κασσίτερος can be found in Homer's Iliad, such as in the description the Shield of Achillies. For example, the passage in book 18 chapter 610:

αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ τεῦξε σάκος μέγα τε στιβαρόν τε,

610τεῦξ᾽ ἄρα οἱ θώρηκα φαεινότερον πυρὸς αὐγῆς,

τεῦξε δέ οἱ κόρυθα βριαρὴν κροτάφοις ἀραρυῖαν

καλὴν δαιδαλέην, ἐπὶ δὲ χρύσεον λόφον ἧκε,

τεῦξε δέ οἱ κνημῖδας ἑανοῦ κασσιτέροιο.[10]

Translated as:

then wrought he for him a corselet brighter than the blaze of fire, and he wrought for him a heavy helmet, fitted to his temples, a fair helm, richly-dight, and set thereon a crest of gold; and he wrought him greaves of pliant tin. But when the glorious god of the two strong arms had fashioned all the armour[11]

Liddell-Scott-Jones suggest the etymology to be originally Elamite; citing the Babylonian kassi-tira, hence the sanskrit kastīram.[9] However the Akkadian word (the lingua franca of the Ancient Near East, including Babylonia) for tin was "anna-ku"[12] (cuneiform: 𒀭𒈾[13]). Roman Ghirshman (1954) suggests, from the region of the Kassites, an ancient people in west and central Iran; a view also taken by J D Muhly.[14] There are relatively few words in Ancient Greek at begin with "κασσ-";[15] suggesting that it is an ethnonym.[16] Attempts at understanding the etymology of the word were made in antiquity, such as Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis (book 34 chapter 37.1):

"White lead (tin) is the most valuable; the Greeks applied to it the name cassheros".[17]

And Stephanus of Byzantium in his Ethnica states:

"Κασσίτερα νησοσ εν τω Ωκεανω, τη Ίνδικη προσεχης, ως Διονυσιοσ εν Βασσαρικοισ. Εξ ης ο κασσίτερος."[16]

Which can be translated as:

Kassitera, an island in the ocean, neighbouring India, as Dionysius states in the Bassarika. From there comes tin.

It may be primary used as a raw material for tin extraction and smelting.

  1. ^ Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.43. S2CID 235729616.
  2. ^ Mineralienatlas
  3. ^ Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C. (2005). "Cassiterite" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineral Data Publishing. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  4. ^ Cassiterite, Mindat.org
  5. ^ Webmineral
  6. ^ Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis (1985). Manual of Mineralogy (20th ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons. pp. 306–307. ISBN 0-471-80580-7.
  7. ^ Watt, Louise (2008-11-01). "Mining for minerals fuels Congo conflict". Yahoo! News. Yahoo! Inc. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  8. ^ Polgreen, Lydia (2008-11-16). "Congo's Riches, Looted by Renegade Troops". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  9. ^ a b "Defininiton of κασσίτερος". logeion.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  10. ^ "Homer, Iliad, Book 18, line 590". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  11. ^ "ToposText". topostext.org. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  12. ^ Læssøe, Jørgen (1970-01-01). "Akkadian annakum: "tin" or "lead"?". Acta Orientalia. 24: 10. doi:10.5617/ao.5285. ISSN 1600-0439.
  13. ^ Dossin, G. (1970). "La Route De L'étain En Mésopotamie Au Temps De Zimri-Lim". Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale. 64 (2): 97–106. ISSN 0373-6032. JSTOR 23283408.
  14. ^ Muhly, James D. (1985-04-01). "Sources of Tin and the Beginnings of Bronze Metallurgy". American Journal of Archaeology. 89 (2): 275–291. doi:10.2307/504330. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 504330.
  15. ^ CLASSICS, FACULTY OF (2021). CAMBRIDGE GREEK LEXICON. CAMBRIDGE University Press. pp. 746–7. ISBN 978-0-521-82680-8.
  16. ^ a b STEPHANUS BYZANTIUS Margarethe Billerbeck] Stephani Byzantii Ethnica, K O. BY MARGARETHE BILLERBECK. 2014. pp. 56–7.
  17. ^ "ToposText". topostext.org. Retrieved 2024-11-07.