Chemistry: HgS, Mercury
Sulfide
Crystal System: trigonal; 32
Class: Sulfides and Sulfosalts
Uses: Ore of mercury & pigments
Cleavage: perfect in three directions
Fracture: is uneven to splintery.
Hardness: is 2 - 2.5.
Specific Gravity: is apx. 8.1+
Streak: is red
Luster: adamantine to submetallic.
Transparency: translucent to transparent.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Cinnabar is a bright red mineral consisting of mercury and sulfur. It
provides most of the world's supply of mercury. It is a colorful mineral
that will add a unique color to any mineral
collectors case. Cinnabar or Mercury Sulfide is quite often recognized
by its deep red coloring. The tone of the red crystals depends on the
purity of the mineral. If it is pure, the color is a vermilion red.
If it is impure, the color is more of a brownish red, cinnamon red to
brick red. Found mostly near the earth's surface, close to volcanic
rocks and hot springs it usually
occurs in earthy masses or scattered in opal.
Well shaped crystals are uncommon. Crusts and crystal complexes are
more common.
Cinnabar's crystals are characteristic of a distinctive form of twinning.
Cinnabar forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding
the point of a pyramid. Somewhat
like two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going
the opposite way of the other crystal. Other forms include, massive,
capillary needles or modified rhombohedrons. Cinnabar shares the same
symmetry class with quartz but the two, form different crystal habits.
Cinnabar is one of the few sulfides that can be transparent. Others
that come to mind are sphalerite, realgar, and orpiment. Associated
Minerals are realgar, pyrite, dolomite, quartz, stibnite and mercury.
SOME MERCURY CHARACTERISTICS:
Since Mercury is a liquid, it is rarely found in a native state.
Although it is the only mineral aside from Water found in a liquid state,
it is never found in "pools". It only occurs as tiny blobs on top of
the mercury ores Cinnabar and Calomel. The tiny blobs are lodged in
small crevices or pores, or they just stick to the associating mineral.
The blobs do not roll around
or fall off the associating mineral, but stay in a single place unless
they are tampered with.
Mercury lacks a crystal structure and is thus not really a mineral but
a mineraloid. One of
the scientifically accepted standards defining a mineral is that a mineral
must have a crystal structure, which Mercury lacks. Although many scientific
groups and references, categorize Mercury together with the "true" minerals.
Mercury freezes at -38º F and is the only metal that is a liquid at
room temperature.
When mercury combines with any of the true metals (excluding platinum
and iron), the result
is an amalgam. (There is a mineral known as "Amalgam", which is a mixture
of silver and mercury (Ag,Hg), but the common term of amalgam denotes
a mixture of mercury and any other metal.) Amalgams are used to extract
precious metals from their ore
LOCALITIES:
The most recent and exciting availability of Cinnabar specimens has
come from Hunan Provence,China. Hunan Province of China has produced
large, gemlike crystals since the
early 1980's. Some very nice material is coming from this region. Beware
though, some of
the first specimens to come out were carefully prepared fakes. With
large twinned cinnabar crystals glued onto quartz or dolomite matrix's.
In addition to Hunan Provence, China. Deposits occur in Italy, Slovenia,
Idria, Serbia; and Almaden, Spain. Just to mention a few. In the US
California had several locations such as. Culver Bear Mine and Socrates
Mine, Sonoma Co.; Idria, San Benito Co. and the Almaden and New Almaden
mines in Santa Clara Co. Other mines include Nevada's Cahill Mine, Humboldt
County; Weiser Idaho;Terlingua, Texas; The famous Red Devil Mine near
Sleetmute, Alaska. There were also mines in Oregon and Arkansas.
HISTORY & FACTS:
The word 'cinnabar' comes from the Persian for 'dragon's blood'. Cinnabar
was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been
the main ore of mercury throughout
the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today.
Like the mines at Almaden, Spain. Cinnabar has been mined for more than
2,500 years at Almaden, Spain, which has been the world's most important
deposit.
A couple of decades ago, mercury was discovered to be very toxic for
any sort of contact with the human skin. So it has not been as commonly
used as it once was. Its more common uses before this discovery were
for electrical apparatuses, industrial control instruments, mildew proofing
of paint, and preparation of chlorine and caustic soda. It is still
used and mined today, but with a great amount of protection and caution.
Vermilion is the standard name in England and the
United States given to the red artists' pigment based on artificially
made mercuric sulfide. Artificial cinnabar was manufactured
very early on. Geber (Jabir), the eighth- to ninth-century Arabic alchemist
mentions a red compound formed by the union of sulfur and mercury. The
pigment has been known in
China since prehistoric times and it has long been held in high esteem
there. An example
would be the famous Chinese Cinnabar lacquer beads.
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