Sylvanite (Au, Ag)2Te4
c 2001-2005 Mineral Data Publishing, version 1
Crystal Data: Monoclinic. Point Group: 2/m. Crystals, to 1 cm, short prismatic [001] or
[010], thick tabular on {100} and {010}; may be skeletal, bladed, imperfectly columnar, granular.
Twinning: Common on {100} as contact, lamellar, or penetration twins, resembling cuneiform
characters.
Physical Properties: Cleavage: Perfect on {010}. Fracture: Uneven. Tenacity: Brittle.
Hardness = 1.5–2 VHN = 154–172 (100 g load). D(meas.) = 8.16 D(calc.) = 8.161
Optical Properties: Opaque. Color: Steel-gray to silver-white inclining to yellow; in
polished section, creamy white. Streak: Steel-gray to silver-white. Luster: Metallic, brilliant.
Pleochroism: Strong; cream-white to leather-brown. Anisotropism: Very strong; in grayish
brown, grayish white, and yellowish and bluish tints.
R1 –R2 : (400) 43.2–53.6, (420) 45.4–55.9, (440) 47.7–57.9, (460) 49.7–59.6, (480) 50.9–60.8, (500)
51.8–61.8, (520) 52.3–62.6, (540) 52.5–62.9, (560) 52.5–63.0, (580) 52.5–63.0, (600) 52.6–62.9, (620)
52.8–62.7, (640) 53.0–62.4, (660) 53.3–62.2, (680) 53.6–62.2, (700) 54.1–62.4
Cell Data: Space Group: P 2/c. a = 8.95(1) b = 4.478(5) c = 14.62(2) β = 145.35(5)◦
Z=2
X-ray Powder Pattern: Fiji Islands.
3.05 (100), 2.15 (50), 2.25 (30), 1.989 (30), 2.98 (20), 1.797 (20), 1.523 (20)
Chemistry: (1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3)
Au 25.45 29.85 24.19 Ni 0.10
Ag 13.94 9.18 13.22 Te 60.61 60.45 62.59
Cu 0.15 Total 100.00 99.73 100.00
(1) Cripple Creek, Colorado, USA. (2) Kalgoorlie, Australia. (3) (Au, Ag)2 Te4 with Au:Ag = 1:1.
Occurrence: Most commonly in low-temperature hydrothermal veins; also in medium- and
high-temperature deposits, typically among the last minerals formed.
Association: Gold, calaverite, krennerite, altaite, hessite, petzite, acanthite, pyrite, galena,
sphalerite, chalcopyrite, quartz, “chalcedony”, fluorite.
Distribution: A mineral present in minor amounts in many Au–Ag deposits, but only rarely in
rich specimens or of economic importance. In Romania, from Baia-de-Arieş (Offenbánya) [TL],
Săcărı̂mb (Nagyág) [TL], and Facebánya. At Glava, Värmland, Sweden. In the Bereznyakov
gold deposit and the Yaman-Kasy Cu–Zn–pyrite deposits, Southern Ural Mountains, Russia. In
Canada, from the Dome mine, Porcupine, Ontario. In the USA, in California, at the Melones
and Stanislaus mines, Carson Hill district, Calaveras Co.; in Colorado, in abundance at Cripple
Creek, Teller Co., and important in the Magnolia, Gold Hill, and Sunshine districts, Boulder Co.,
and elsewhere; in the Cornucopia district, Baker Co., Oregon; from the Mayflower mine, Tobacco
Root Mountains, Madison Co., and the at Gies mine, Judith Mountains, Fergus Co., Montana.
From the San Francisco mine, 145 km north of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. At the El Indio mine,
east of La Serena, Coquimbo, Chile. From Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. In the Bulawan deposit,
Negros Occidental, Phillipines. At the Arakara goldfields, Guyana. From the Emperor mine,
Vatukoulu, and in the Tuvatu Au–Ag–Te deposit, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands.
Name: From TranSYLVANia, Romania where it was first found, and in allusion to the element
tellurium (sylvanium, a name early proposed for the element), which the mineral contains.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written
permission of Mineral Data Publishing.
References: (1) Palache, C., H. Berman, and C. Frondel (1944) Dana’s system of mineralogy,
(7th edition), v. I, 338–341. (2) Van Tendeloo, G., P. Gregoriades, and S. Amelinckx (1983)
Electron microscopic studies of modulated structures in (Au, Ag)Te2 : Part II. Sylvanite AgAuTe2 .
J. Solid State Chem., 50, 335–361. (3) Pertlik, F. (1984) Kristallchemie natürlicher Telluride. I:
Verfeinerung der Kristallstruktur des Sylvanites, AuAgTe4 . Tschermaks Mineral. Petrog. Mitt.,
33, 203–212 (in German with English abs.). (4) Berry, L.G. and R.M. Thompson (1962) X-ray
powder data for the ore minerals. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem. 85, 148. (5) Ramdohr, P. (1969) The
ore minerals and their intergrowths, (3rd edition), 424–426. (6) Criddle, A.J. and C.J. Stanley,
Eds. (1993) Quantitative data file for ore minerals, 3rd ed. Chapman & Hall, London, 547.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written
permission of Mineral Data Publishing.
