Empressite

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Empressite
Empressite-583052.jpg
Empressite from Joe mine, Tombstone district
General
Category Telluride mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
AgTe
IMA symbol Eps [1]
Strunz classification 2.CB.80
Crystal system Orthorhombic
Crystal class Dipyramidal (mmm)
H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group Pmnb
Identification
ColorPale bronze
Crystal habit Granular masses
Cleavage None
Fracture Uneven to subconchoidal
Tenacity Brittle
Mohs scale hardness3.5
Luster Metallic
Streak Gray-black to black
Diaphaneity Opaque
Specific gravity 7.6
Optical propertiesOpaque
Pleochroism Very strong, in gray to creamy white
References [2] [3] [4]

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.

Recent crystallographic analysis [5] has confirmed that empressite is a distinct mineral with orthorhombic crystal structure, different from the hexagonal Ag5−xTe3 with which empressite has been commonly confused in mineralogy literature. At the same time, empressite does not appear on the equilibrium Ag-Te phase diagram, [6] and therefore it is only metastable at ambient conditions. Given infinite time, it would phase separate into pure Ag5Te3 and pure Te.

The name empressite comes from the location of its discovery – the Empress Josephine mine, Saguache County, Colorado, US. It was first described in 1914. [4]

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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 5 cm (2.0 in) and can also form cylindrical and prismatic crystals.

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Stibarsen or allemontite is a natural form of arsenic antimonide (AsSb) or antimony arsenide (SbAs). The name stibarsen is derived from Latin stibium (antimony) and arsenic, whereas allemonite refers to the locality Allemont in France where the mineral was discovered. It is found in veins at Allemont, Isère, France; Valtellina, Italy; and the Comstock Lode, United States; and in a lithium pegmatites at Varuträsk, Sweden. Stibarsen is often mixed with pure arsenic or antimony, and the original description in 1941 proposed to use stibarsen for AsSb and allemontite for the mixtures. Since 1982, the International Mineralogical Association considers stibarsen as the correct mineral name.

References

  1. Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi: 10.1180/mgm.2021.43 . S2CID   235729616.
  2. http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/empressite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy
  3. http://www.webmineral.com/data/Empressite.shtml Webmineral
  4. 1 2 http://www.mindat.org/min-1379.html Mindat
  5. L. Bindi et al., American Mineralogist, 89, 1043 (2004)
  6. Karakaya, I., Thompson, W.T.: J. Phase Equilibria 12, 56 (1991).