Two New Occurrences of Benleonardite, a Rare Silver-Tellurium Sulphosalt, and a Possible New Occurrence of Cervelleite

Paul G. Spry and Scott E. Thieben
Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, 253 Science I, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-3210, USA

Abstract: Benleonardite, ideally Ag8(Sb,As)Te253, occurs in ore specimens from the Mayflower and Gies epithermal gold-silver telluride deposits in Montana commonly spatially associated with hessite and tetrahedrite. In these deposits, it is Cu-bearing (up to 2.7 wt.%) and exhibits a slight deficiency in Ag+Cu coupled with a slight excess in S. A cervelleite-like mineral coexists with benleonardite at Mayflower and is unusual in composition in that it is Se-bearing suggesting the possibility of solid solution with aguilarite (Ag4SeS).

Keywords: benleonardite • cervelleite • Mayflower mine • Gies mine, Montana

Mineralogical Magazine; December 1996 v. 60; no. 403; p. 871-876; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1996.060.403.02
© 1996, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)