Museumite, Pb (sub 5) AuSbTe (sub 2) S (sub 12) , a new mineral from the gold-telluride deposit of Sacarimb, Metaliferi Mountains, western Romania
Museumite, Pb (sub 5) AuSbTe (sub 2) S (sub 12) , a new mineral from the gold-telluride deposit of Sacarimb, Metaliferi Mountains, western Romania
European Journal of Mineralogy (October 2004) 16 (5): 835-838
Museumite, ideally Pb (sub 5) AuSbTe (sub 2) S (sub 12) , is a newly identified mineral from the gold-telluride deposit of Sacarimb, Metaliferi Mountains, western Romania. The mineral occurs as anhedral to subhedral grains up to 300mu m in cavities and vugs of large nagyagite crystals and it does not show any inclusion or intergrowth of other minerals. The associated minerals are nagyagite, hessite, sylvanite, petzite and coloradoite, whereas the gangue minerals are calcite and quartz. Museumite is dark silver-grey in colour and shows a grey-black streak. It has a perfect {001} cleavage, the fracture is hackly and the Vickers hardness (VHN (sub 15) ) is 42 kg/mm (super 2) . Museumite is greyish white in reflected light, with very low bireflectance and pleochroism. With crossed polars it shows distinct anisotropism, similar to nagyagite, but slightly stronger. Internal reflections are absent. Reflectance percentages for R (sub min) and R (sub max) are 38.4, 40.3 (471.1 nm), 38.1, 40.1 (548.3 nm), 37.5, 39.4 (586.6 nm), and 35.9, 38.0 (652.3 nm), respectively. Museumite is monoclinic, space group P2 (sub 1) or P2 (sub 1) /m, with the following unit-cell parameters: a = 4.361(2) A, b = 6.618(3) A, c = 20.858(9) A, beta = 92.71(5) degrees , V = 601.3(5) A (super 3) . The strongest five powder-diffraction lines [d in A (I/I (sub 0) ) (hkl)] are: 4.80 (52) (013); 3.56 (100) (111); 3.47 (58) (112); 2.99 (50) (023); 2.56 (41) (116). The average of 25 electron microprobe analyses gave Pb 52.0(4), Au 10.7(1), Sb 6.2(2), Te 11.7(2), S 19.4(2), total 100.0 wt. %, corresponding, on the basis of total atoms = 21, to Pb (sub 5.00) Au (sub 1.08) Sb (sub 1.01) Te (sub 1.83) S (sub 12.08) .