calaverite
Sign in to saveCalaverite, or gold telluride, is an uncommon telluride of gold, a metallic mineral with the chemical formula AuTe2, with approximately 3% of the gold replaced by silver. It was first discovered in Calaveras County, California in 1861, and was named for the county in 1868.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Calaverite
- Mineral.category
- Telluride mineral
- Mineral.image
- Calaverite-214667.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 260px
- Mineral.caption
- Platy calaverite crystals on matrix from the Cripple Creek District (size: 6 x 5 x 3.5 cm)
- Mineral.formula
- AuTe2
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Clv
- Mineral.molweight
- 452.17 g/mol
- Mineral.strunz
- 2.EA.10
- Mineral.system
- Monoclinic
- Mineral.class
- Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol)
- Mineral.symmetry
- C2/m
- Mineral.unit cell
- a = 7.19 Å, b = 4.4 Å, c = 5.08 Å; β = 90.3°; Z = 2
- Mineral.color
- Brass yellow to silver white
- Mineral.habit
- Bladed and slender striated prisms, also massive granular
- Mineral.twinning
- Common on [110]
- Mineral.cleavage
- None
- Mineral.fracture
- Uneven to subconchoidal
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Physical and chemical properties
- Structure
- Occurrence
- History
- See also
- References
- External links
Calaverite, or gold telluride, is an uncommon telluride of gold, a metallic mineral with the chemical formula AuTe2, with approximately 3% of the gold replaced by silver. It was first discovered in Calaveras County, California in 1861, and was named for the county in 1868.
The mineral often has a metallic luster, and its color may range from a silvery white to a brassy yellow. It is closely related to the gold-silver telluride mineral sylvanite, which, however, contains significantly more silver. Another AuTe2 mineral (but with a quite different crystal structure) is krennerite. Calaverite and sylvanite represent the major telluride ores of gold, although such ores are minor sources of gold in general. As a major gold mineral found in Western Australia, calaverite played a major role in the 1890s gold rushes in that area.