Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2018
Dadsonite was previously described without a name: (mineral Q) from Yellowknife, N.W.T.; (mineral QM) from Madoc, Ontario, and Pershing County, Nevada. Material from a fourth locality (Wolfsberg, Germany) yields good powder patterns, identical with those of QM, and single crystal data identical with those for Q.
Microprobe analysis of the Nevada and Wolfsberg samples gave, respectively, Pb 49·3, 50·8; Sb 31·7, 31·8; S 20·7, 20·3; sum 101·7, 102·9 %, giving Pb11Sb12·0S29·8 and Pb11Sb11·7S28·4, ideally Pb11Sb12S29 or 11PbS·6Sb2S3. Dadsonite is acicular [010], monoclinic, space group P2, Pm, or P2/m, with a 19·05, b 4·11, c 17·33 Å, β 96° 20′, Z = 1, Sp. gr. 5·76. The strongest lines of the X-ray pattern are 3·78 (7), 3·62 (6), 3·38 (10), 2·84 (7), and 2·79 Å (6).