Silver minerals

Acanthite is a form of silver sulfide with the chemical formula Ag2S. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system and is the stable form of silver sulfide below . Argentite is the stable form above that temperature. As argentite cools below that temperature its cubic form is distorted to the monoclinic form of acanthite. Below 173 °C acanthite forms directly. Acanthite is the only stable form in normal air temperature.

thumb|Argentite sample thumb|The unit cell of argentite

Chlorargyrite is the mineral form of silver chloride (AgCl). Chlorargyrite occurs as a secondary mineral phase in the oxidation of silver mineral deposits. It crystallizes in the isometric–hexoctahedral crystal class. Typically massive to columnar in occurrence it also has been found as colorless to variably yellow cubic crystals. The color changes to brown or purple on exposure to light. It is quite soft with a Mohs hardness of 1 to 2 and dense with a specific gravity of 5.55. It is also known as cerargyrite and, when weathered by desert air, as horn silver. Bromian chlorargyrite (or embolite

Pyrargyrite is a sulfosalt mineral consisting of silver sulfantimonite, Ag3SbS3. Known also as dark red silver ore, ruby blende, garnete blende or ruby silver, it is an important source of the metal.

Proustite is a sulfosalt mineral consisting of silver sulfarsenide, Ag3AsS3, known also as ruby blende, light red silver, arsenic-silver blende or ruby silver ore, and an important source of the metal. It is closely allied to the corresponding sulfantimonide, pyrargyrite, from which it was distinguished by the chemical analyses of Joseph L. Proust (1754–1826) in 1804, after whom the mineral received its name.

Sylvanite or silver gold telluride, chemical formula , is the most common telluride of gold.

Argyrodite is an uncommon silver germanium sulfide mineral with formula Ag8GeS6. The color is iron-black with a purplish tinge, and the luster metallic.

Polybasite is a sulfosalt mineral of silver, copper, antimony and arsenic. Its chemical formula is .

Hessite is a mineral form of disilver telluride (Ag2Te). It is a soft, dark grey telluride mineral which forms monoclinic crystals.

Krennerite is an orthorhombic gold telluride mineral which can contain variable amounts of silver in the structure. The formula is AuTe2, but specimen with gold substituted by up to 24% with silver have been found ([Au0.77Ag0.24]Te2). Both of the chemically similar gold-silver tellurides, calaverite and sylvanite, are in the monoclinic crystal system, whereas krennerite is orthorhombic.

Stephanite is a silver antimony sulfosalt mineral with formula: Ag5SbS4. It is composed of 68.8% silver, and sometimes is of importance as an ore of this metal.

The mineral petzite, Ag3AuTe2, is a soft, steel-gray telluride mineral generally deposited by hydrothermal activity. It forms isometric crystals, and is usually associated with rare tellurium and gold minerals, often with silver, mercury, and copper.

Bromyrite or bromargyrite is a natural mineral form of silver bromide found mainly in Mexico and Chile. Hardness is 1.5 to 2. Related are chlorargyrite and iodyrite.

Boleite is a complex halide mineral with formula: KPb26Ag9Cu24(OH)48Cl62. It was first described in 1891 as an oxychloride mineral. It is an isometric mineral which forms in deep-blue cubes. There are numerous minerals related to boleite, such as pseudoboleite, cumengite, and diaboleite, and these all have the same complex crystal structure. They all contain bright-blue cubic forms and are formed in altered zones of lead and copper deposits, produced during the reaction of chloride bearing solutions with primary sulfide minerals.

Miargyrite, formerly known as ruby blende or garnet blende is a mineral, a sulfide of silver and antimony with the formula AgSbS2. It is a dimorph of cuboargyrite. Originally discovered in the Freiberg district of Germany in 1824, it has subsequently been found in many places where silver is mined. It usually occurs in low temperature hydrothermal deposits. and forms black metallic crystals which may show a dark red internal reflection. The streak is also red.

Iodyrite or iodargyrite is a natural mineral form of silver iodide.

Allargentum is a mineral from the class of antimonides, superclass of sulfides and sulfosalts (sometimes ascribed to the natural elements and alloys class), with formula written as Ag1−xSbx, where x = 0.09–0.16. This moderately rare mineral is found in silver ores and is therefore named from the Greek ἄλλος (allos, "another") and the Latin argentum ("silver"). Its Vickers hardness is 172–203.

Aguilarite is an uncommon sulfosalt mineral with formula Ag4SeS. It was described in 1891 and named for discoverer Ponciano Aguilar.

The silver antimonide mineral dyscrasite has the chemical formula Ag3Sb. It is an opaque, silver white, metallic mineral which crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system. It forms pyramidal crystals up to and can also form cylindrical and prismatic crystals.

Jalpaite is a rare copper silver sulfide mineral with formula Ag3CuS2.

Xanthoconite is a sulfosalt mineral with the chemical formula Ag3AsS3.

Argentopyrite is a moderately rare sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is one of the natural compounds of the type, with M being caesium in very rare pautovite, copper in relatively common cubanite, potassium in rare rasvumite and thallium in rare picotpaulite. The type locality is Jáchymov in Czech Republic. Chemically similar mineral include sternbergite (dimorphous with argentopyrite), lenaite, , and argentopentlandite, .

Moschellandsbergite is a rare isometric mineral made up of a silver-white amalgam of mercury and silver with the chemical makeup Ag2Hg3.

Stromeyerite or copper-silver glance is a sulfide mineral of copper and silver, with the chemical formula AgCuS. It forms opaque blue grey to dark blue orthorhombic crystals.

Stützite or stuetzite is a silver telluride mineral with formula: Ag5−xTe3 (with x = 0.24 to 0.36) or Ag7Te4.

The mineral uytenbogaardtite, Ag3AuS2, is a soft, greyish white sulfide mineral, occurring in hydrothermal Au-Ag-quartz veins. It occurs as tiny crystals, visible only with a microscope. It has a metallic luster and a hardness on the Mohs scale of 2 (gypsum).

Andorite is a sulfosalt mineral with the chemical formula PbAgSb3S6.

Freibergite is a complex sulfosalt mineral of silver, copper, iron, antimony and arsenic with formula . It has cubic crystals and is formed in hydrothermal deposits. It forms one solid solution series with tetrahedrite and another with argentotennantite. Freibergite is an opaque, metallic steel grey to black and leaves a reddish-black streak. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 4.0 and a specific gravity of 4.85 to 5. It is typically massive to granular in habit with no cleavage and an irregular fracture.

Canfieldite is a rare silver tin sulfide mineral with formula: Ag8SnS6. The mineral typically contains variable amounts of germanium substitution in the tin site and tellurium in the sulfur site. There is a complete series between canfieldite and its germanium analogue, argyrodite. It forms black orthorhombic crystals which often appear to be cubic in form due to twinning. The most typical form is as botryoidal rounded grape-like masses. Its Mohs hardness is 2.5 and the specific gravity is 6.28. Canfieldite exhibits conchoidal fracturing and no cleavage.

sulfosalt mineral

Crookesite is a selenide mineral composed of copper and selenium with variable thallium and silver.

Quetzalcoatlite is a rare tellurium oxysalt mineral with the formula Zn6Cu3(TeO6)2(OH)6 · AgxPbyClx+2y. It also contains large amounts of silver- and lead(II)chloride with the formula AgxPbyClx+2y (x+y≤2). It has a Mohs hardness of 3 and it crystallizes in the trigonal system. It has a deep blue color. It was named after Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec and Toltec god of the sea, alluding to its color. It is not to be confused with tlalocite, which has a similar color and habit.

Bezsmertnovite, less often bessmertnovite () is a very rare supergene mineral of the sulfide class, complex in composition: mixed plumbotelluride of gold, copper, iron, silver from the bilibinskite group with the calculation formula Au4Cu(Te,Pb).

Pearceite is one of the four so-called "ruby silvers", pearceite , pyrargyrite , proustite and miargyrite . It was discovered in 1896 and named after Dr Richard Pearce (1837–1927), a Cornish–American chemist and metallurgist from Denver, Colorado.

Empressite or tellursilberblende is a mineral form of silver telluride, AgTe. It is a rare, grey, orthorhombic mineral with which can form compact masses, rarely as bipyramidal crystals.

Berryite is a mineral with the formula . It occurs as gray to blue-gray monoclinic prisms. It is opaque and has a metallic luster. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 and a specific gravity of 6.7.

Aurorite is a dark-colored mineral with the chemical formula (Mn,Ag,Ca)MnO·3HO. It is named for its type locality, the North Aurora mine in White Pine County, Nevada.

Montbrayite (from a Canadian toponym) is a very rare mineral from among the gold tellurides, close to krennerite and calaverite, in composition it is a mixed polymetallic plumbo-telluride of gold with a variable formula, initially written as Au2Te3, or , but today having a much more complex form in the calculated form: . The color of montbrayite is cream, tin-white to pale yellow, the luster is metallic.

Freieslebenite is a sulfosalt mineral composed of antimony, lead, and silver. Sulfosalt minerals are complex sulfide minerals with the formula: AmBnSp. The formula of freieslebenite is AgPbSbS3.

Eugenite is a rare silver-mercury mineral. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system.

Arcubisite (Ag6CuBiS4) is a sulfosalt mineral occurring with cryolite in Greenland. It is named after its composition (ARgentum, CUprum, and BISmuth). Its IMA symbol is Acb.

Volynskite (), is a rare hydrothermal mineral of the sulfide class (the group), that forms microscopic grains in related minerals, which in composition is a complex bismuth-silver telluride with the calculated formula AgBiTe2.

Fettelite, also known as sanguinite, is a mercury-sulfosalt mineral with the chemical formula Ag16HgAs4S15. The mineral was first described by Wang and Paniagua (1996) who named it after M. Fettel, a German field geologist who collected the first samples from Odenwald. It was first collected in the Nieder-Beerbach mine, 10 km south of Darmstadt, Odenwald, Germany. Its normal occurrence is in hydrothermal veins, which can cut gabbro-diorite intrusives. It is closely related to other rare minerals like dervillite, daomanite, vaughanite and criddleite which are also found in the same type lo

Aramayoite (IMA symbol: Ary) is a mineral with the chemical formula . Its type locality is Sud Chichas, Potosí, Bolivia.

thumb | right Stumpflite is a rare platinum mineral. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system.

Argentobaumhauerite (IMA symbol: Abha) is a rare mineral with the chemical formula AgPbAsS. Its type locality is the Binn valley in Switzerland.

Marrite (mar'-ite) is a mineral with the chemical formula PbAgAsS3. It is the arsenic equivalent of freieslebenite (PbAgSbS3), but also displays close polyhedral characteristics with sicherite and diaphorite. Marrite was first described in 1905, and was named in honor of geologist John Edward Marr (1857–1933) of Cambridge, England.

Arquerite is a naturally occurring alloy of silver with mercury. It is a very rare mineral, consisting of a silver-rich variety of amalgam, containing about 87% silver and 13% mercury. Arquerite has been reported from only four localities worldwide, two in Chile and two in British Columbia, Canada. Other names for arquerite include argental mercury, mercurian silver, and silver amalgam.

Wikimedia set index article (minerals with the same trivial name)

Danielsite is a sulfide and sulfosalt that was first discovered in a pocket of supergene minerals in the north region of Western Australia. The location found was about west of the locality known as Coppin Pool. The mineral danielsite was named after John L. Daniels who collected the sample in which the new mineral was found. The chemical formula of danielsite is . Danielsite is very fine grained and hard to observe in hand samples. It generally has a gray color with very brittle and soft physical characteristics.

Chrisstanleyite, Ag2Pd3Se4, is a selenide mineral that crystallizes in high saline, acidic hydrothermal solution at low temperatures as part of selenide vein inclusions in and alongside calcite veins. It tends to be found in assemblages of other selenides: jagueite, naumannite, fischesserite, oosterboschite, and tiemannite, and it is a solid solution mineral with jagueite Cu2Pd3Se4 in which it shares a unique crystal structure that has not been identified elsewhere (Paar et al. 1998; Nickel 2002; Paar et al. 2004). Chrisstanleyite and jagueite are unlike the other minerals of the selenide fami

Rayite, a monoclinic mineral containing Lead-Silver-Thallium-Antimony, was found during microscopic and electron microprobe study of specimens from the complex, polymetallic sulphide-native metal sulpho-salt paragenesis of Rajpura-Dariba, Rajasthan, India. It is named after Dr. Santosh K. Ray of President College, Calcutta, India. It bears a striking resemblance to owyheeite in terms of its Lead/(Silver,Thallium)/Antimony ratio, yet its structural affinity lies with Semseyite. The average composition is Lead-47.06, Copper-0.03, Silver-4.54, Thallium-2.04, Antimony-27.42, Sulphur-19.59 by wt.%

Gabrielite is an extremely rare thallium sulfosalt mineral with a chemical formula of or .

Set index article (minerals with the same trivial name)