Bismuth

Bi

Bismuth is extremely rare at Mont Saint-Hilaire, only a few specimens have been recovered.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Color is usually silver-white.
Luster is metallic.
Diaphaneity is opaque.
Crystal System is hexagonal; R3m
Crystal Habits include small flakes and blebs to 1mm.
Cleavage {001} is perfect, {101} is good and {104} is imperfect.
Fracture is not observed.
Hardness is 2 – 2.5
Specific Gravity is approximately 9.75 g/cm3.
Streak is silver-white.
Associated Minerals include aegirine, albite, analcime,
lovozerite, lueshite, sodalite and villiaumite.
Distinguishing Features: Cleavage, color and luster.
Origin: Known since the Middle Ages as wisimut. The name
comes from the German, wis mat, white mass, as descriptive
of the metal.

CLASSIFICATION:

Dana System
# 1.3.1.4

Strunz Classification
# I/B.1-40

REFERENCES:
MinRec 21:299 (1990), Dana 8:28 (1997)

DISTRIBUTION AND RARITY AT MONT SAINT-HILAIRE:

MSH          PE          AP          MX          SS           MC          HF           BR          SX          FR
¤¤¤            —             —             —               —             —             —              —            ¤¤            —  

Legend

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *