Home > Metallic Minerals – September 17 > MS1437 Luanheite

Luanheite - Sold


Luanheite is an intermetallic compound of silver and mercury. It has a well ordered crystal structure, which keeps its Ag:Hg ratio near 3:1. Shao et al. (1984) named the mineral after the Luanhe River Valley in China.

This luanheite specimen comes from a prolific find in 1985. Luanheite forms a sheet in clay, likely within a fault gouge. There is partial replacement by acanthite in this material. Large for the occurrence.