Crystallography and Surface Oxidation of Stoichiometric Arsenopyrite from Šumadija-Kopaonik Pb-Zn/Polymetallic Ore District (Serbia)

The behaviour and stability of arsenopyrite largely depend on its crystal structure, but studies crystallography structural defects are scarce. For clarification, we investigated a series natural crystals from the polymetallic Pb-Zn-(±Cu,Ag,Au,Sb,Bi,W) Šumadija-Kopaonik ore district (Serbia) by powder X-ray diffraction (XRPD). Among them, samples Drenjak gold mineralisation showed near-stoichiometric FeAsS composition were further conventional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy methods. TEM revealed abundant planar crystallographic epitaxial surface oxide layer formation upon air exposure. Our findings present fundamental work prototype structure have implications for ion incorporation into environmental oxidation mechanisms as source anthropogenic As release environment.