Chlorargyrite
Species
Uncommon · AgCl
Horn silver: silver chloride, sectile and plastic enough to cut like horn, darkening to violet brown in light. It can be a rich ore in the oxidised cap above silver deposits, best kept in dry country; the Bridal Chamber at Lake Valley, New Mexico, was almost pure chlorargyrite. Chloride ores, like the sulfides, were treated by mercury amalgamation in the patio process of Spanish America.
Identity
- Formula
- AgCl
- Chemical class
- Halide
- Also known as
- Horn silver, Cerargyrite
- Ore of
- Silver
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Cubic
- Habits
- Cubic, Massive, Columnar
- Fracture
- Uneven
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5
- Density
- 5.56 g/cm³
- Luster
- Resinous, Adamantine, Waxy
- Colors
- colorless, pale yellow, gray, violet-brown
- Streak
- white
- Transparency
- Transparent, Translucent
Geology
- Origins
- Sedimentary
- Associated minerals
- Silver, Cerussite, Malachite, Goethite
- Found in
- Oxidized zone (gossan)
- Geography
- USA (Lake Valley, New Mexico; Tombstone, Arizona), Chile (Chañarcillo, Caracoles, Huantajaya), Mexico (Santa Eulalia, Catorce), Australia (Broken Hill), Germany (Freiberg, Johanngeorgenstadt, Schneeberg)
Classification
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- M. Pasero and others, IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, The New IMA List of Minerals, updated September 2026. International Mineralogical Association (CNMNC), 2026.
- J. W. Anthony, R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, M. C. Nichols, Chlorargyrite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Chlorargyrite. Wikipedia.
- Patio process. Wikipedia.
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