Verbeekite

PdSe2
IMA status
  • Approved
IMA symbol
Vbk
IMA approved
2001
Also known as
  • IMA2001-005
  • Verbeekiet

Where it forms, where it's found

Type locality
Musonoi Mine
  1. Kolwezi
  2. Mutshatsha
  3. Lualaba
  4. DR Congo

-10.7135°, 25.4454°

2recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Safety & handling

Physical

Hardness
123456789105.5/ 10 MOHS
  1. 1Talc
  2. 2Gypsum
  3. 3Calcite
  4. 4Fluorite
  5. 5Apatite
  6. 6Orthoclase
  7. 7Quartz
  8. 8Topaz
  9. 9Corundum
  10. 10Diamond
Transparency
Opaque
Colour
Black
Streak
Black
Tenacity
brittle
Cleavage
None Observed
Fracture
Irregular/Uneven
Density
7.211 g/cm³

Optical

Pleochroism
Non-pleochroic
Optical colour
Grey
Anisotropism
Moderate with brown tints
Tropism
Anisotropic
Reflectance R%
(50.05,50.75,37.00,37.85) 400, (50.20,51.20,37.00,38.00) 420, (50.30,51.65,37.00,38.25) 440, (50.60,52.25,36.95,38.40) 460, (50.80,52.30,37.00,38.40) 470, (50.90,52.50,37.00,38.40) 480, (51.20,52.55,37.05,38.35) 500, (51.40,52.60,37.35,38.25) 520, (51.70,52.80,37.70,38.30) 540, (51.85,52.90,37.75,38.30) 546, (52.00,53.15,37.85,38.40) 560, (52.10,53.45,38.25,38.70) 580, (52.20,53.55,38.50,38.60) 589, (52.25,53.65,38.40,38.90) 600, (52.30,53.75,38.60,39.15) 620, (52.35,53.90,38.65,39.40) 640, (52.40,54.00,38.80,39.60) 650, (52.40,54.10,38.90,39.80) 660, (52.45,54.25,39.10,40.10) 680, (52.50,54.35,39.30,40.45) 700

Crystallography

Crystal system
Monoclinic
Cell parameters
a = 6.659(7) Å · b = 4.124(5) Å · c = 4.438(6) Å
Cell angles
β = 92.76(3) °
Ratio a:b:c
1 : 0.619 : 0.666
Unit cell volume
121.7 ų
Z
2
Morphology

Anhedral grains to 200 microns.

Type-locality form

Anhedral grains to 200 μm.

Comment

space group : C2/m, C2 or Cm

Chemical composition

Constituent elements
Mass composition breakdown
ElementAtoms At. mass g/mol Mass g/molMass share
34SeSeleniumSelenium278.971157.942
59.74%
46PdPalladiumPalladium1106.420106.420
40.26%
Total264.362100.00%

Mass share = atoms × atomic mass ÷ molar mass × 100

From IMA formula

Synonyms

  • IMA2001-005
  • Verbeekiet

In other languages

German
IMA 2001-005 · Verbeekit
Italian
Verbeekite
Chinese
单斜硒钯矿

Classification

Strunz
10th ed.

2.EA.25

  • 2Sulfides and SulfosaltsClass
  • 2.EMetal Sulfides, M: S <= 1:2Division
  • 2.EAM:S = 1:2 - With Cu, Ag, AuGroup
  • 2.EA.25VerbeekiteSpecies

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 2002Roberts, Andrew C., Paar, Werner H., Cooper, Mark A., Topa, Dan, Criddle, Alan J., Jedwab, J. (2002) Verbeekite, monoclinic PdSe2, a new mineral from the Musonoi Cu-Co-Mn-U mine, near Kolwezi, Shaba Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Mineralogical Magazine, 66 (1) 173-179 doi:10.1180/0026461026610020 DOI: 10.1180/0026461026610020
  2. 2002Mandarino, Joseph A. (2002) New minerals. The Canadian Mineralogist, 40 (4) 1215-1234 doi:10.2113/gscanmin.40.4.1215 DOI: 10.2113/gscanmin.40.4.1215
  3. 2003Jambor, J.L., Roberts, A.C. (2003) New mineral names. American Mineralogist: 88: 251-255.
  4. 2005(2005) Verbeekite. Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America
  5. 2017Selb, Elisabeth, Tribus, Martina, Heymann, Gunter (2017) Verbeekite, the Long-Unknown Crystal Structure of Monoclinic PdSe2. Inorganic Chemistry, 56 (10) 5885-5891 doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b00544DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b00544
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Verbeekite — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/verbeekite-25640},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}