Home > Silver and Gold Minerals – January 7 > MS1479 Gold after Calaverite

Gold after Calaverite - Sold


Calaverite is a gold telluride. The mineral name refers to Calaveras County, California, wherein the type locality lies (Genth, 1868). Unlike krennerite or sylvanite, silver is not essential to the crystal structure of calaverite (Bindi et al., 2009). When heated, tellurium is driven off, leaving metallic gold. Hot late stage fluids can cause this replacement.

This is a specimen of gold pseudomorphous after calaverite. The gold is fine-grained and orangy-yellow. The platy pseudomorphs reach 2 mm and are embedded in a matrix of quartz and fluorite, typical for the district.