Fletcherite is a rare

thiospinel The thiospinel group is a group of sulfide minerals with a general formula where A is nominally a +2 metal, B is a +3 metal and X is -2 sulfide or similar anion (selenide or telluride). ''Thio'' refers to sulfur and ''spinel'' indicates their isom ...

sulfide mineral The sulfide minerals are a class of minerals containing sulfide (S2−) or disulfide () as the major anion. Some sulfide minerals are economically important as metal ores. The sulfide class also includes the selenide mineral, selenides, the tell ...

with formula . It is an opaque metallic steel gray mineral which crystallizes in the

cubic crystal system In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties o ...

. It is a member of the

linnaeite Linnaeite is a cobalt sulfide mineral with the composition Co+2Co+32S4. It was discovered in 1845 in Västmanland, Sweden, and was named to honor Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblemen ...

group. It was first described in 1977 for an occurrence in the Fletcher Mine, Viburnum Trend (New Lead Belt), near Centerville,

Reynolds County, Missouri Reynolds County is a county located in the Ozark Foothills Region in the Lead Belt of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,096. Its county seat is Centerville. The county was officially organized on February 25, 1845, and w ...

. It occurs as a dissemination within copper sulfide minerals in mineralization replacing dolomite at the type locality in the Fletcher mine where it is associated with

vaesite Vaesite ( Ni S2) is a mineral found together with cattierite in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is named after Johannes F. Vaes, a Belgian mineralogist. It is part of the pyrite group The pyrite group of minerals is a set of cubic crystal s ...

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

covellite Covellite (also known as covelline) is a rare copper sulfide mineral with the formula CuS. This indigo blue mineral is commonly a secondary mineral in limited abundance and although it is not an important ore of copper itself, it is well known ...

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a Mohs scale, hardness of 3.5 to 4 ...

bornite Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic). It is an important copper ore. Appearance Bornite has a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfa ...

and

digenite Digenite is a copper sulfide mineral with formula: Cu9S5. Digenite is a black to dark blue opaque mineral that crystallizes with a trigonal–hexagonal scalenohedral structure. In habit it is usually massive, but does often show pseudo-cubic fo ...

. In an occurrence in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

it is found in black

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

associated with

pyrrhotite Pyrrhotite (''Pyrrhus of Epirus, pyrrhos'' in Greek language, Greek meaning "flame-coloured"'')'' is an iron sulfide mineral with the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.125). It is a nonstoichiometric compound, nonstoichiometric variant of FeS, th ...

References

Copper(II) minerals Nickel minerals Cobalt minerals Sulfide minerals Cubic minerals Minerals in space group 227 Thiospinel group Minerals described in 1977 {{sulfide-mineral-stub