Arsenopyrite
Mineral FeAsS
Also called Mispickel
Take care.
- Contains arsenic: Wash your hands after handling it, don't make dust, and never heat it.
About it
Silver-white to steel grey prisms with a diamond-shaped cross section; struck pieces give a garlic smell. The commonest arsenic mineral; fine crystals come from Panasqueira, Portugal, and Yaogangxian, China.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Sulfarsenide, arsenopyrite group
- Formula
- FeAsS
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 5.5–6
- Specific gravity
- 5.9–6.2
- Streak
- dark greyish black
- Lustre
- metallic
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Colours
- silver white to steel grey, tarnishing yellowish
- Transparency
- opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- distinct prismatic; uneven fracture, brittle
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.