Petzite

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.

Petzite
Petzite with quartz - Sacarîmb, Nagyág, Romania
General
Categorytelluride mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)		Ag3AuTe2
IMA symbolPtz[1]
Strunz classification2.BA.40a
Crystal systemCubic
Crystal classGyroidal (432)
(same H-M symbol)
Space groupI4132
Identification
ColorSteel-gray to iron-black, commonly tarnished from bronze-yellow to sooty black; grayish white with a pale bluish tint in polished section
Crystal habitGranular to massive
FractureSubconchoidal irregular
TenacitySlightly sectile to brittle.
Mohs scale hardness2.5 - 3
LusterMetallic
StreakGrayish black
DiaphaneityOpaque
Specific gravity8.7 - 9.14
References[2][3][4][5]

The name comes from chemist W. Petz, who first analyzed the mineral from the type locality in Săcărâmb, Transylvania, Romania in 1845. It was described by Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger in 1845 and dedicated to W. Petz who had carried out the first analyses.[3][4]

It occurs with other tellurides in vein gold deposits. It is commonly associated with native gold, hessite, sylvanite, krennerite, calaverite, altaite, montbrayite, melonite, frohbergite, tetradymite, rickardite, vulcanite and pyrite.[3]

Petzite forms together with uytenbogaardtite (Ag3AuS2) and fischesserite (Ag3AuSe2) the uytenbogaardtite group.

See also

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. Mineralienatlas
  3. Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C. (2005). "Petzite" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineral Data Publishing. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  4. Barthelmy, David (2014). "Petzite Mineral Data". Webmineral.com. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  5. Petzite, Mindat.org, retrieved 6 August 2022
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