Home > Silver and Gold Minerals – January 7 > MS1483 Proustite with Xanthoconite

Proustite with Xanthoconite


Xanthoconite and proustite are polymorphs of silver arsenic sulfide; they have the same chemical composition. Proustite has hexagonal symmetry while xanthoconite has monoclinic symmetry. Unlike other well known "ruby silver" minerals, xanthoconite is distinctly yellow. In fact, the name means "yellow powder" in Greek (Breithaupt, 1840). Engel & Nowacki (1968) solved the crystal structure of the mineral. This material come out of Imiter in 2003 when many proustite specimens also came onto the mineral market. There are some scattered crystals of honey yellow xanthoconite to 0.5 mm present, and larger red crystals of proustite to 2 mm. Excellent microphotography potential.

Price: $400

Item code: MS1483

For ordering, please use the order form.