At the end of March 2022, China Geological Survey Tianjin Geological Survey Center, Qu Kai's scientific research team discovered a new mineral in nature, and named it - Kongtieyinite.
Shortly after the discovery of the new ore, many mineral experts asserted that it could change the direction of scientific development to a certain extent. So the question is, what kind of ore is Kongtie Zhiyinite? How big a stir will its discovery make in the scientific community?
Sky iron stilverite
Sky iron sliver mine
As of now, a total of 25,794 kinds of minerals have been discovered in the world. As of the end of March 2022, my country has discovered 159 effective new minerals, accounting for 2.76% of the world's discovered minerals. %, ranking 8th in the world, they are widely distributed in Henan, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai Province, Hunan Province, Tibet and other provinces and autonomous regions.
The sky iron sulfide deposit discovered by the Tianjin Geological Survey Center this time is the 160th new mineral discovered in our country. Fortunately, just after the International Mineralogical Society defined 2022 as the mineralogy year, sky iron sinter silver The mineral was discovered, so it just became the No. 1 mineral in 2022. So how did we discover this new mineral?
Discovery of empty iron sliver ore
In fact, in January 2021, the Qukai scientific research team discovered a new mineral in the Yindongpo gold mine in Tongbai County, Nanyang City, Henan Province-empty zinc silver sliver copper ore , it is closely symbiotic with minerals such as tungsten copper ore, sulfur gold and silver ore and quartz . They all belong to an ancient mineral group - the twill copper ore group . This mineral group has many types of hydrothermal deposits, due to There are homovalent or heterovalent element substitutions at multiple crystallographic positions and are often considered the most complex group of sulfonate minerals.
After discovering the empty zinc-silver-black copper deposit, the Qukai scientific research team did not give up further exploration. Instead, based on the mineralization geological background of the deposit, it was speculated that the deposit has a special output location, and there is an extremely silver-rich black copper deposit. Possibility, and then find the possible empty iron ore in the deposit.
In the subsequent work, the team found a twillite , but after in-depth research, they found that these minerals were also an empty twillite series mineral with an [Ag6]4+ structure. This It's what we call empty iron slate ore.
From the perspective of physical properties, the surface of cyanoferrite is gray-black, gray under reflected light, and has brown-red internal reflection, opaque metallic luster and black streaks. At the same time, its silver content is as high as 52.3%, which is The most silver-rich tetrahedron mineral in nature.
Although it is closely symbiotic with galena, crimson silverite, sphalerite, pyrite, cynopyrite and other minerals, due to the crystal structure of cynopyrite, There is one less divalent anion in the vacancy. Through the special structure of [Ag6]4+, the electricity price balance of the entire mineral is maintained. Therefore, its physical properties, chemical composition and spectral characteristics are the same as those of other twarf minerals. different, so the research team defined it as a new mineral. So what is the significance of the discovery of Kongtie Zhiyin ore?
The value of tungsten iron ore
As a common mineral in hydrothermal deposits, the emergence of silver-bearing trey copper ore naturally has great economic value. Secondly, before the discovery of tungsten iron ore, mineralogists It has always been believed that the formation of vacancy twarthite is related to the specific Ag-Cu content ratio in hydrothermal fluids. If the content of Ag in the mineral is higher, the possibility of vacancy formation in twarthite will be lower.
But now the crystal structure of azoite has basically refuted the above conjecture, and the formation mechanism of its [Ag6]4+ silver cluster structure will provide new ideas for artificially synthesized materials, and at the same time, it will also provide new ideas for human understanding and Utilizing minerals from nature provides new and important references.
In addition, due to its outstanding performance in catalysis, chemical sensing and optoelectronic functions, it has become a hot spot in the field of mineral research.Although our country has achieved good results in the research of new minerals, we will not be complacent or rest on our laurels.
During the development process, my country's new mineral research will also focus on deep earth and deep space, and explore the mysteries of the earth's internal structure and the formation and evolution of planets in the solar system from a mineralogical perspective.
