Formula: Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₂O₄

Species: Oxides

Colour: Brown-black

Lustre: Resinous, Sub-Metallic, Dull

Hardness: 5½

Specific Gravity: 4.83 – 4.85

Crystal System: Tetragonal

Member of: Spinel Subgroup > Oxyspinel Group > Spinel Supergroup

Name: Originally named “blättricher Schwarz-Braunstein” in 1813 by Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann, Professor of Mineralogy, University of Göttingen, Germany (1782-1859). Renamed by Wilhelm Haidinger in 1827 in honor of Hausmann.

Type Locality: Oehrenstock (Öhrenstock), Langewiesen, Ilmenau, Ilm District, Thuringia – Germany

Isostructural with: Hetaerolite, Hydrohetaerolite, Jacobsite-Q. Forms a series with hetaerolite.
Hausmannite has a tetragonal distorted spinel structure. Hausmannite generally forms black granular aggregates or, relatively rare, pseudo-octahedral crystals.