Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T11:47:44.991Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural and chemical study of weishanite, (Au,Ag,Hg), from the Keystone mine, Colorado, USA.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2018

Luca Bindi ,
Frank N. Keutsch  and
Giovanni O. Lepore
Luca Bindi*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze, Italy
Frank N. Keutsch
Affiliation:
Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA-02138, USA
Giovanni O. Lepore
Affiliation:
CNR-IOM-OGG, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, F-38043 Grenoble, France
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Structural data for weishanite, an alloy of Au, Ag and Hg, were collected for the first time from a crystal from the Keystone Mine, Colorado, USA. The structure was solved in the space group P63/mmc with the unit cell a = 2.9348(8) and c = 4.8215(18) Å] and refined to R = 0.0299 for 40 observed reflections [4σ(F) level] and four parameters and to R = 0.0356 for all 47 independent reflections. The weishanite structure can be considered a derivative of the zinc structure, with Au, Ag and Hg disordered in the same structural position. On this basis, we suggest that the formula is normalized to 1 atom with Z = 2, leading, for the sample investigated, to Au0.41Ag0.31Hg0.28 (electron microprobe data). Accordingly, weishanite can be considered the Au-rich isotype of schachnerite. A comparison with other Au/Ag-Hg alloys is presented together with a critical discussion about the nomenclature rules to be applied to alloys and simple metals.

Keywords

weishanitecrystal structuregoldsilvermercurygold–silver alloysamalgamnomenclature rules
Type
Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 82 , Issue 5 , October 2018 , pp. 1141 - 1145
Copyright
Copyright © Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Associate Editor: David Hibbs

References

Baptista, N.R. and Baptista, A. (1987) Gold amalgam, a possible new mineral species from Sumidouro de Mariana, Minas Gerais State. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 58, 457–463 [in Portuguese, English summary].Google Scholar
Berman, H. and Harcourt, G.A. (1938) Natural amalgams. American Mineralogist, 23, 761–764.Google Scholar
Bindi, L., Yao, N., Lin, C., Hollister, L.S., Poirier, G.R., Andronicos, C.L., MacPherson, G.J., Distler, V.V., Eddy, M.P., Kostin, A., Kryachko, V., Steinhardt, W.M. and Yudovskaya, M. (2014) Steinhardtite, a new body-centered-cubic allotropic form of aluminum from the Khatyrka CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. American Mineralogist, 99, 2433–2436.Google Scholar
Burke, E.A.J. (2006) A mass discreditation of GQN minerals. Canadian Mineralogist, 44, 1557–1560.Google Scholar
Dianxin, S., Jianxiong, Z., Jianhong, Z. and Daxi, B. (1984) Luanheite – A new mineral. Acta Mineralogica Sinica, 4, 97–101 [in Chinese with English abstract].Google Scholar
Fairhurst, C.W. and Cohen, J.B. (1972) The crystal structure of two compounds found in dental amalgam: Ag2Hg3 and Ag3Sn. Acta Crystallographica, B28, 371–378.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, F.N., Burke, E.A.J., Ercit, S.T., Grew, E.S., Grice, J.D., Jambor, J.J., Puziewicz, J., Roberts, A.C. and Vanko, D.A. (1988) New mineral names. American Mineralogist, 73, 189–199.Google Scholar
King, H.W. and Massalski, T.B. (1961) Lattice spacing relationships and the electronic structure of hcp zeta phases based on silver. Philosophical Magazine, 6, 669–682.Google Scholar
Li, Y., Ouyang, S. and Tian, P. (1984) Weishanite - A new gold-bearing mineral. Acta Mineralogica Sinica, 4, 102–105 [in Chinese, English abstract].Google Scholar
Nishio-Hamane, D. and Minakawa, T. (2017) Aurihydrargyrumite, IMA 2017-003. CNMNC Newsletter No. 37, June 2017, page 739; Mineralogical Magazine, 81, 737–742.Google Scholar
Owen, E.A. and O'Donnell, Roberts E.A. (1945) The solubility of certain metals in gold. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 71, 213–254.Google Scholar
Oxford Diffraction (2006) CrysAlis RED (version 1.171.31.2) and ABSPACK in CrysAlis RED. Oxford Diffraction Ltd., Oxfordshire, England.Google Scholar
Rayson, H.W. and Calvert, L.D. (1959) Solid solutions of mercury in silver and gold. Journal of the Institute of Metals, 87, 88–90.Google Scholar
Rolfe, C. and Hume-Rothery, W. (1967) The constitution of alloys of gold and mercury. Journal of the Less-Common Metals, 13, 1–10.Google Scholar
Seeliger, E. and Mücke, A. (1972) Para-schachnerit, Ag1.2Hg0.8, und schachnerit, Ag1.1Hg0.9, vom Landsberg bei Obermoschel, Pfalz. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie Abhandlungen, 117, 1–18.Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G.M. (2008) A short history of SHELX. Acta Crystallographica, A64, 112–122.Google Scholar
Suh, I.-K., Ohta, H. and Waseda, Y. (1988) High-temperature thermal expansion of six metallic elements measured by dilatation method and X-ray diffraction. Journal of Materials Science, 23, 757–760.Google Scholar
Tassel, F., Rubio, J., Misra, M. and Jena, B.C. (1997) Removal of mercury from gold cyanide solution by dissolved air flotation. Minerals Engineering, 10, 803–811.Google Scholar
Wells, A.F. (1984) Structural Inorganic Chemistry, 5 th Edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford. [p. 1288, “Metallic radii for 12-coordination”].Google Scholar
Wilson, A.J.C. (editor) (1992) International Tables for Crystallography. Volume C: Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Tables. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Bindi et al. supplementary material

Bindi et al. supplementary material 1

Download Bindi et al. supplementary material(File)
File 9.7 KB