Renierite & Germanite

Description

Renierite has a hardness of 4 – 5 and a specific gravity of 4.62, and Germanite has a hardness of 4 and a specific gravity of 4.5. Renierite is named after Armand Marie Vincent Joseph Renier (1876-1951), the Director of the Geological Survey of Belgium, and possibly the one to discover and record this mineral? If you may know any better, please, send a message! Germanite is named due to its Germanium content.

Little more is known about it between Wikipedia and Mindat, but it’s an exceptionally beautiful metal rock, and an awesome sample of Germanium for element collectors, especially with Germanite present as well! If Renier hadn’t heard rumors of a cool, purple-ish colored metal rock down in Africa somewhere that he went searching for specifically to discover a new mineral or a mineable amount of Germanium, this definitely had to have surprised him in a very good way! Either way, he must’ve felt like he hit the jackpot finding a rock like this, and you can too if you find one like this near you!

Besides argyrodite, briartite, germanite, renierite and sphalerite, Germanium sometimes presents in Coal seams, so keep your eyes open for shiny coal!

At roughly 31% Sulfur, 25% Copper, 22% Zinc, 13% Iron, 7% Germanium and 2% Arsenic in the Renierite and 52% Copper, 32% Sulfur, 9% Germanium and 7% Iron in the Germanite, this specimen would make for a one of the coolest samples for element collectors that you could possibly have to fill the Germanium slot, as not only is this one of the primary ores for the element, but it just looks so cool! But, for that reason, it’s not cheap!

Most Renierite either comes from Africa, or Russia, but it’s been found on nearly every continent, excluding Antarctica and South America, and has been found in only one mine within Colorado – the Humboldt Mine in Boulder County. However, keep your eyes out for something like this and send a message if you find some more!!