What is "germanite"

n. (context mineral English) An isometric-hextetrahedral pinkish gray mineral containing copper, germanium, iron, and sulfur.

n. a rare reddish-gray mineral consisting of a copper iron germanium sulfide

Germanite is a rare copper iron germanium sulfide mineral, CuFeGeS. It was first discovered in 1922, and named for its germanium content. It is only a minor source of this important semiconductor element, which is mainly derived from the processing of the zinc sulfide mineral sphalerite. Germanite contains gallium, zinc, molybdenum, arsenic, and vanadium as impurities.

Its type locality is the Tsumeb Mine in Namibia where it occurs in a hydrothermal polymetallic ore deposit in dolostone in association with renierite, pyrite, tennantite, enargite, galena, sphalerite, digenite, bornite and chalcopyrite. It has also been reported from Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Finland, France, Greece, Japan, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Russia and the United States.

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