Kenhsuite

Kenhsuite is a mercury sulfide with chloride ions. It was described as a species from specimens obtained at the McDermitt mine, in Opalite, Humboldt Nevada county, (USA). The name is a tribute to Dr. Kenneth Junghwa Hsu. Professor Emeritus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (Switzerland).^[3]

Kenhsuite
Kenhsuite and cinabrio.Oriental mine, Chóvar (Castellón)Spain.
General
Category	Silphohalide mineral
Formula	Hg3S2Cl2
IMA symbol	Khs[1]
Crystal system	Orthorhombic
Identification
Color	White or pale orange-pink to salmon-pink; darkening on exposure to light.
Crystal habit	Acicular crystals
Mohs scale hardness	2-3
Diaphaneity	Transparent
References	[2]

Physical and chemical properties

Kenhsuite appears as aggregates of capillary or needle microcrystals, with a glassy or silky sheen. The mineral is originally colorless or white in color, but is most often tinged with orange or red due to the presence of associated cinnabar. Prolonged exposure to light causes their darkening. The mercury sulfide chloride with the composition of kenhsuite is known in three polymorphic forms.^[4] Kenhsuita is rhombic, while the other two are corderoite and lavrientivite.^[5]

Deposits

Kenhsuite is an extremely rare mineral, known in very few localities in the world.^[6] In the type locality, it was found as extremely small acicular or tabular crystals, less than 100 microns in size. The locality where the best specimens appear is the Oriental mine, in Chóvar, Castellón (Spain), where the acicular crystals usually exceed one millimeter, forming centimetric aggregates of fan-shaped crystals.^[7] In these two deposits it appears associated with corderoite and cinnabar.