Tivanite, a new oxyhydroxide mineral from Western Australia, and its structural relationship to rutile and diaspore

The ideal formula is VTiO (sub 3) OH, and tivanite comes from the Kalgoorlie gold lodes of Western Australia. It is monoclinic P2 (sub 1) /c with a 7.494(5), b 4.552(4), c 10.005(8) A, beta 129.79(2) (super o) ; Z = 1. The strongest calculated XRD lines are: 3.880(100), 2.795(94), 2.636(69), 1.683(31), 1.693(30), and 3.91(25) A. Tivanite is black, submetallic, and occurs as minute needles in quartz; it is anistotropic with D(calc.) 4.17; VHN 650 under a 50g load. Reflectivity values are 470 nm 16.8%, 546 nm 17.4%, and 589 nm 17.7%. The structure is an ordered intergrowth of TiO (sub 2) (rutile) with VOOH (diaspore).