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The crystal structure of uytenbogaardtite, Ag3AuS2, and its relationships with gold and silver sulfides-selenides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Luca Bindi ,
Christopher J. Stanley ,
Yurii V. Seryotkin ,
Vladimir V. Bakakin ,
Galina A. Pal'yanova  and
Konstantin A. Kokh
Luca Bindi*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, I-50121Firenze, Italy
Christopher J. Stanley
Affiliation:
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
Yurii V. Seryotkin
Affiliation:
Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Koptyuga, 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str., 2, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
Vladimir V. Bakakin
Affiliation:
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of the RAS, prosp. Lavrentieva 3, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
Galina A. Pal'yanova
Affiliation:
Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Koptyuga, 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str., 2, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
Konstantin A. Kokh
Affiliation:
Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Koptyuga, 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str., 2, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
*
*E-mail: luca.bindi@unifi.it
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Abstract

The crystal structure of the mineral uytenbogaardtite, a rare silver-gold sulfide, was solved using intensity data collected for a crystal from the type locality, the Comstock lode, Storey County, Nevada (USA). The study revealed that the structure is trigonal, space group R3̄c, with cell parameters a = 13.6952(5), c = 17.0912(8) Å and V = 2776.1(2) Å3. The refinement of an anisotropic model led to an R index of 0.0140 for 1099 independent reflections. The structure consists of a sub-lattice of sulfur atoms forming a distorted body-centred cubic arrangement. The structure contains distinct tri-atomic linear groups (S–Au–S) and Ag atoms bonded to four S atoms (from four different linear groups) in a distorted tetrahedral arrangement. On the basis of information gained from this characterization, uytenbogaardtite is here definitively proved to be structurally different from petzite, Ag3AuTe2 and fischesserite, Ag3AuSe2. By use of high-quality single-crystal diffraction data, the symmetry of the mineral was found to be trigonal, and not tetragonal as erroneously supposed. A revaluation of the powder diffraction data listed in the scientific literature for uytenbogaardtite according to the structural results obtained here leads to an excellent agreement. Crystal-chemical features of uytenbogaardtite, Au2S, petrovskaite AgAuS, uytenbogaardtite–fischesserite series Ag3Au(S2–xSex) and acanthite–naummanite series Ag2(S1–xSex) are compared.

Keywords

crystal structure and symmetrysilver sulfidesgold sulfidesmineralsuytenbogaardtite
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 80 , Issue 6 , October 2016 , pp. 1031 - 1040
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2016

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