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⇱ The mineralogy of Silver

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The mineralogy of Silver

General Properties
Symbol:Ag
Commodity pages:Silver
Atomic Number:47
Standard atomic weight (Ar):107.8682(2)
Electron configuration:[Kr] 4d10 5s1
Photos
<
Native Silver - Ag
>
Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):1.93
Atomic Radius:165 pm
Ionic Radius:115 pm (+1)
Van der Waals Radius:172 pm
1st Ionization energy:731 kJ/mol
1st Electron affinity:-126 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:1,2,3
Physical Properties
Standard State:solid
Bonding Type:metallic
Melting Point:1235 K
Boiling Point:2435 K
Density:10.49 g/cm3
Metal/Non-Metal:transition metal
Main isotopes of Silver
Isotope% in NatureHalf LifeDecay typeDecay product
105Agsynthetic41.2dε105Pd
106mAgsynthetic8.28dε106Pd
107Ag51.839%-Spontaneous fission ?
108mAgsynthetic418yε108Pd
Isomeric transition108Ag
109Ag48.161%-Spontaneous fission ?
111Agsynthetic7.45dβ−111Cd
Main ions of Silver
NameIonExample minerals
silver(I)Ag+Acanthite, Chlorargyrite
Other Information
Year Discovered:before 5000 BC
Named For:Greek: árguros - "grey" or "shining"
CPK color coding:#C0C0C0
External Links:WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com
Simple Compounds and Mineral Names
Sulfidesdisilver sulphideAg2S+1Acanthite
Selenidesdisilver selenideAg2Se+1Naumannite
Telluridesdisilver tellurideAg2Te+1Hessite
Fluoridessilver fluorideAgF+1
silver difluorideAgF2+2
silver subfluorideAg2F+0,+1
Chloridessilver chlorideAgCl+1Chlorargyrite
Bromidessilver bromideAgBr+1Bromargyrite
Iodidessilver iodideAgI+1Iodargyrite
Oxidessilver oxideAgO+1,+3
disilver oxideAg2O+1
Mineral Diversity of Silver
1. Elements 8 valid mineral species
2. Sulfides And Sulfosalts 201 valid mineral species
3. Halides7 valid mineral species
4. Oxides 1 valid mineral species
7. Sulfates 1 valid mineral species
8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates3 valid mineral species
Total:221 valid species containing essential Silver
Minerals with the greatest weight % of Silver
Native SilverAg100.00 %
SchachneriteAg1.1Hg0.9100.00 %
AcanthiteAg2S87.06 %
AguilariteAg4SeS79.53 %
ArgentopearceiteAg16As2S1177.45 %
ArgyroditeAg8GeS676.50 %
SpryiteAg8(As3+0.5As5+0.5)S676.35 %
ChlorargyriteAgCl75.26 %
EugeniteAg11Hg274.73 %
Argentopolybasite[Ag6Sb2S7][Ag9AgS4]74.32 %
Geochemistry of Silver
Goldschmidt classification:Chalcophile
Elemental Abundance for Silver
Crust (CRC Handbook)7.5 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Kaye & Laby)8 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Greenwood)8 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)8.0 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Wänke)6.95 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)5.0 x 10-8mass fraction, kg/kg
Sea Water (CRC Handbook)4 x 10-11mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Sea Water (Kaye & Laby)2.8 x 10-10mass per volume fraction, kg/L
The Sun (Kaye & Laby)2.0 x 10-7atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Kaye & Laby)4.9 x 10-7atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Ahrens)4.86 x 10-7 (2.9%)atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty)
Element association of Silver in the Mineral World
This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Silver and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements.

The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Silver and the element listed for that row.

The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Silver.

The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row.

Click on a heading to sort.
ElementValid Minerals listed with element and Silver% of Ag mineralsRelative to % in all minerals
Sulfur187 minerals with Ag and S77.27%250.52% higher
Lead92 minerals with Ag and Pb38.02%252.36% higher
Antimony90 minerals with Ag and Sb37.19%556.11% higher
Copper71 minerals with Ag and Cu29.34%116.13% higher
Arsenic71 minerals with Ag and As29.34%126.05% higher
Bismuth42 minerals with Ag and Bi17.36%312.94% higher
Tellurium30 minerals with Ag and Te12.40%248.34% higher
Mercury26 minerals with Ag and Hg10.74%501.07% higher
Iron24 minerals with Ag and Fe9.92%55.85% lower
Thallium21 minerals with Ag and Tl8.68%479.45% higher
Selenium16 minerals with Ag and Se6.61%147.34% higher
Gold16 minerals with Ag and Au6.61%854.83% higher
Zinc12 minerals with Ag and Zn4.96%11.77% lower
Oxygen9 minerals with Ag and O3.72%95.42% lower
Chlorine9 minerals with Ag and Cl3.72%49.68% lower
Palladium9 minerals with Ag and Pd3.72%162.44% higher
Manganese8 minerals with Ag and Mn3.31%71.65% lower
Tin7 minerals with Ag and Sn2.89%57.57% higher
Iodine5 minerals with Ag and I2.07%288.81% higher
Hydrogen4 minerals with Ag and H1.65%97.03% lower
Germanium4 minerals with Ag and Ge1.65%138.71% higher
Cadmium3 minerals with Ag and Cd1.24%126.42% higher
Indium3 minerals with Ag and In1.24%352.84% higher
Bromine2 minerals with Ag and Br0.83%201.90% higher
Fluorine1 mineral with Ag and F0.41%94.76% lower
Potassium1 mineral with Ag and K0.41%95.86% lower
Vanadium1 mineral with Ag and V0.41%91.42% lower
Nickel1 mineral with Ag and Ni0.41%87.90% lower
Periodic Table
1H 2He
3Li 4Be 5B 6C 7N 8O 9F 10Ne
11Na 12Mg 13Al 14Si 15P 16S 17Cl 18Ar
19K 20Ca 21Sc 22Ti 23V 24Cr 25Mn 26Fe 27Co 28Ni 29Cu 30Zn 31Ga 32Ge 33As 34Se 35Br 36Kr
37Rb 38Sr 39Y 40Zr 41Nb 42Mo 43Tc 44Ru 45Rh 46Pd 47Ag 48Cd 49In 50Sn 51Sb 52Te 53I 54Xe
55Cs 56Ba 57La 72Hf 73Ta 74W 75Re 76Os 77Ir 78Pt 79Au 80Hg 81Tl 82Pb 83Bi 84Po 85At 86Rn
87Fr 88Ra 89Ac 104Rd 105Db 106Sg 107Bh 108Hs 109Mt 110Ds 111Rg 112Cn 113Nh 114Fl 115Mc 116Lv 117Ts 118Og
58Ce 59Pr 60Nd 61Pm 62Sm 63Eu 64Gd 65Tb 66Dy 67Ho 68Er 69Tm 70Yb 71Lu
90Th 91Pa 92U 93Np 94Pu 95Am 96Cm 97Bk 98Cf 99Es 100Fm 101Md 102No 103Lr
Default Categories CPK Electronegativity Atomic Radius Lowest Oxidation Highest Oxidation Crustal Abundance Goldschmidt Mineral Species Minerals with Ag Relative Frequency
Palladium << Silver >> Cadmium


Most widespread minerals containing Silver
This list of minerals containing Silver is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Silver mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.
NameFormulaCrystal SystemMindat Localities
Native SilverAgIsometric6295
AcanthiteAg2SMonoclinic3795
PyrargyriteAg3SbS3Trigonal1852
ChlorargyriteAgClIsometric1806
HessiteAg2TeMonoclinic1229
Polybasite[Ag6Sb2S7][Ag9CuS4]Monoclinic1005
ProustiteAg3AsS3Trigonal936
StephaniteAg5SbS4Orthorhombic800
PetziteAg3AuTe2Isometric594
StromeyeriteAgCuSOrthorhombic459
Photos

Localities with greatest number of different Silver mineral species
1Lengenbach Quarry, Fäld, Binn, Goms, Valais, Switzerland34 Ag minerals
2Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany31 Ag minerals
3Kremnica Au-Ag deposit, Kremnica, Žiar nad Hronom District, Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia30 Ag minerals
4Uchucchacua Mine, Uchucchacua area, Oyón District, Oyón Province, Lima, Peru26 Ag minerals
5Săcărâmb, Certeju de Sus, Hunedoara County, Romania25 Ag minerals
Oselské pásmo Lode, Kutná Hora District, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic25 Ag minerals
7Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona, USA23 Ag minerals
8Nová Baňa deposit, Nová Baňa, Žarnovica District, Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia23 Ag minerals


Important ores of Silver
NameFormulaCrystal System
GalenaPbSIsometric
Native SilverAgIsometric
AcanthiteAg2SMonoclinic
Photos


Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.

Constants and physical property data from:

Lide, David R. - Ed. (2005) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (85th ed.). CRC Press.
National Physical Laboratory (2005) Kaye and Laby Online (discontinued). https://web.archive.org/web/20190506031327/http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/
Kaye, G. W. C.; Laby, T. H. (n.d.) Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and some Mathematical Functions. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Greenwood, N.N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997) Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann.
Ahrens, Thomas J. - Ed. (1995) Global Earth Physics - A Handbook of Physical Constants - AGU Reference Shelf No. 1. American Geophysical Union.
Railsback, L. Bruce (2003) An earth scientist's periodic table of the elements and their ions. Geology, 31 (9) 737 doi:10.1130/g19542.1
Emsley, John (2001) Nature's Building Blocks - An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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