Category Sulfide mineral Strunz classification 2.EC.10 Space group I2/c | Formula
(repeating unit) VS4 Crystal system Monoclinic | |
 | ||
Crystal class Prismatic (2/m)
(same H-M symbol) | ||
Patronite is the vanadium sulfide mineral with formula VS4. The material is usually described as V4+(S22−)2. Structurally, it is a "linear-chain" compound with alternating bonding and nonbonding contacts between the vanadium centers. The vanadium is octa-coordinated, which is an uncommon geometry for this metal.
The mineral was first described in 1906 for an occurrence in a vanadium mine near Mina Ragra, Junín, Cerro de Pasco, Peru. It was named for Peruvian metallurgist Antenor Rizo-Patron (1866–1948) the discoverer of the deposit. At the type locality in Peru it occurs in fissures within a red shale likely derived from an asphaltum deposit. Associated minerals include, native sulfur, bravoite, pyrite, minasragrite, stanleyite, dwornikite, quartz and vanadium bearing lignite. It has also been reported from the Yushkinite gorge on the Middle Silova-Yakha River on the Paikhoi Range of the polar Urals of Russia and from the Tsumeb mine in Namibia.