VITEITE, Pd5InAs, A NEW MINERAL FROM THE MONCHETUNDRA LAYERED INTRUSION, KOLA PENINSULA, RUSSIA

Viteite, Pd5InAs, is a new mineral discovered in the Monchetundra layered intrusion, Kola Peninsula, Russia. It forms euhedral grains about 0.5 to 10 mu m in size intergrown with irarsite (IrAsS), hollingworthite (RhAsS), zvyagintsevite (Pd3Pb), Au-Ag alloys, and tulameenite (Pt2CuFe), that are replaced by Pt-Pd-Fe-Cu alloys and Pt-Pd-Fe-Cu oxygenated compounds, all of which are embedded in chalcocite, goethite, and covellite. Viteite is brittle and has a metallic luster. In plane-polarized light, viteite is bright pinkish-white. The mineral is weakly anisotropic with rotation tints blue to pinkish brown; it exhibits no internal reflections. Reflectance values of viteite in air (R-1, R-2 in %) are 55.7, 54.0 at 470 nm; 59.2, 58.4 at 546 nm; 60.0, 60.4 at 589 nm; and 60.0, 62.6 at 650 nm. Eight electron-microprobe analyses of viteite give an average composition of Pd 71.90, Pt 1.60, Fe 0.98, Cu 0.59, In 11.48, Hg 1.42, Pb 0.40, As 10.70, total 99.07 wt.%, corresponding to the empirical formula (Pd4.92Pt0.06)(Sigma 4.98)(ln(0.73)Fe(0.12)Cu(0.07)Hg(0.05)Pb(0.01))(Sigma 0.98)As-1.04 based on 7 atoms; the average of 12 analyses of its synthetic analogue is: Pd 73.72, In 16.37, As 9.80, total 99.90 wt.%, corresponding to Pd5.02In1.03As0.95. The density, calculated on the basis of the empirical formula, is 10.78 g/cm(3). The mineral is tetragonal, space group P4/mmm, with a 3.98600(3), c 6.98385(8) angstrom, V 110.961(2) angstrom(3), and Z = 1. The crystal structure of synthetic Pd 5 InAs was solved and refined using powder X-ray-diffraction data from synthetic Pd5InAs. Viteite crystallizes with . the Pd5TIAs structure type. The strongest lines in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern of synthetic Pd5InAs [d in angstrom (I) (hkl)] are: 2.3281(45)(003), 2.1932(100)(112), 1.9928(33)(020), 1.2515(17)(115), 1.1857(25)(132). The mineral is named for the Vite river, which flows near the Monchetundra intrusion.