Livingstonite
Mineral HgSb4S8
Take care.
- Contains mercury: Wash your hands after handling it, and never heat it: the fumes are poisonous.
- Toxic: Wash your hands after handling it, don't lick or taste it, and don't make dust.
About it
Lead-grey needles that look like stibnite but leave a red streak. Named for the explorer David Livingstone; best known from Huitzuco, Guerrero, Mexico.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Sulfosalt
- Formula
- HgSb4S8
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2
- Specific gravity
- 4.8–5
- Streak
- red
- Lustre
- metallic, adamantine (diamond-like)
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Colours
- lead grey
- Transparency
- opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect in one direction
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.