stibnite

1 9.9

A soft gray mineral that people mine to get the metal antimony

noun
/ˈstɪbnaɪt/

Specialized

: estibnita

The extraction of antimony from stibnite involves pulverizing the mineral and heating it to separate the metal.

Examples

He translated the first key as a straightforward recipe for using stibnite (the wolf) to separate silver (the queen) from gold (the king) in the crucible, and then using the lead (Saturn) to retrieve silver from the stibnite ashes in the cupel.

Academic text (2004)
He translated the first key as a straightforward recipe for using stibnite (the wolf) to separate silver (the queen) from gold (the king) in the crucible, and then using the lead (Saturn) to retrieve silver from the stibnite ashes in the cupel.

Academic text (2004)
In geology class, we learned that stibnite is primarily composed of antimony sulfide, and it serves as an important ore.
This specimen of stibnite displays a unique gray appearance that is valued by mineral collectors.

Surface Forms

stibnite singular

stibnites plural

Morphology

stibnite = stibn + ite

Although '-ite' is a productive mineral-forming suffix, the root 'stibn' is not a standalone English word and does not transparently convey 'antimony' to average learners.

Etymology

Stibnite comes from the old Latin word stibium, which meant 'antimony'. So stibnite is the mineral that produces the metal antimony, and that is why it is the main ore of that metal.