Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
American Mineralogist (2024)ISBN:
0003-004XURL:
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ammin/search-results?page=1&quicknav=1&q=Ezochiite&fl_SiteID=119Abstract:
<p>Ezochiite was described as a newly–discovered platinum–group mineral in the thiospinel group having an ideal formula of Cu+(Rh3+Pt4+)S4 (Nishio-Hamane and Saito, 2024), but the data presented show it is a platinian cuprorhodsite, Cu(Rh,Pt)2S4 (Cabri et al. 2023; Rudashevsky et al. 1985). Similarly, Nishio-Hamane et al. (2024) describe shiranuiite as a new mineral having an ideal formula of Cu+(Rh3+Rh4+)S4 on the basis of assumed valences. Thus, instead of weighing the significance of chemical substitution in a PGE-dominant thiospinel, the readership is instead burdened with accepting that there are three potential minerals with virtually identical crystal structures and similar, but supposedly distinct, chemical compositions. In the absence of any new, compelling data, particularly in regard to the valences of the ions present in both ezochiite and shiranuiite, it is argued that both are not new mineral species but instead represent varieties of cuprorhodsite.</p>