Pyrargyrite
Species
Uncommon · Ag₃SbS₃
Dark ruby silver, the "fire silver" of its Greek name: silver antimony sulfide, grey black in the mass and deep ruby red in thin splinters, with a purplish red streak that tells it from proustite. The red silver ores were known to Agricola in 1546, and pyrargyrite was an important silver ore of the Harz, Freiberg, Guanajuato and the Comstock Lode.
Identity
- Formula
- Ag₃SbS₃
- Chemical class
- Sulfide
- Also known as
- Dark ruby silver, Dark red silver ore, Rotgültigerz
- Ore of
- Silver
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Habits
- Prismatic, Scalenohedral, Massive, Granular
- Fracture
- Conchoidal
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5
- Density
- 5.85 g/cm³
- Luster
- Adamantine, Metallic
- Colors
- deep red, black
- Streak
- purplish red
- Transparency
- Translucent, Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Hydrothermal
- Host rocks
- Granite, Marble
- Associated minerals
- Silver, Acanthite, Tetrahedrite, Galena, Calcite, Dolomite, Quartz
- Found in
- Hydrothermal vein (lode)
- Geography
- Germany (St. Andreasberg, Harz; Freiberg), Spain (Hiendelaencina, Guadalcanal), Czech Republic (Jáchymov, Příbram), Mexico (Fresnillo, Guanajuato), Bolivia (Colquechaca, Potosí), USA (Comstock Lode, Nevada)
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, Pyrargyrite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Pyrargyrite. Wikipedia.
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