Table of Contents
Tetrahedrite or Gray Copper Ore
Part of the list of all Antimony Minerals Group is Cu2Sb8S7. — Color, grayish or grayish black; powder, grayish or grayish black, sometimes inclining to brown or reddish; luster, metallic; H = 3 to 4; G=4.4 to 5.1; no cleavage; composition, about 52% copper, and, in addition to the antimony and sulphur, sometimes mercury or silver, also zinc and iron; weathers to a yellowish coating. Tennantite is a similar mineral, but contains arsenic instead of antimony. Tetrahedrite is associated with other copper ores, and with zinc blende, galena, etc., as vein matter.
Jamesonite
Pb2Sb2S5. — Color, steel-gray to dark lead gray; powder, grayish-black; luster, metallic; H=2 to 3;G = 5.5 to 6; crystals are unusually long, often fibrous. Contains about 50% lead, and sometimes silver.
Bournonite
PbCuSbS3. — Composition varies;color, steel-gray, lead-gray, or iron-black; powder, the same; luster, metallic; H=2.5 to 3; G = 5.7 to 5.9; cleavage, imperfect.
Stibnite, Gray Antimony or Antimony Glance
Sb2S3. — Color, lead-gray to steel-gray; powder, the same; may be tarnished black; luster, metallic; H = 2 ; G — 4.52 to 4.62; a thin splinter melts in the flame of a match. Contains about 71% antimony, and sometimes carries gold and silver. Crystals are often long and slender; cleavage, very perfect, often showing in streaks, with duller spots or bands between.
This is the common ore of antimony, a metal used in making Babbitt metal, type metal, and other alloys. The value of the ore depends on conditions, and is not often quoted on the market. Stibnite is found in quartz veins in granite; also in veins in slate and quartzite. Sometimes carries gold, as at West Gore, Hants Co., N.S.
Pyrargyrite or Dark-Red Silver Ore
Ag3SbS3. — Color, black to grayish black showing deep red when seen in thin layer; powder, purplish red; luster metallic-adamantine; H—2.5; G = 5.77 to 5.86; conchoidal fracture. Contains nearly 60% silver.
Dyscrasite
Ag3Sb.—Color, silver-white to tin-white, may be tarnished yellow or blackish; powder, the same; luster, metallic; cuts like lead (sectile); H=3.5 to 4; G=9.44 to 9.85. Found with other silver ores.
Breithauptic
NiSb, is a similar mineral of rose-copper color; both are found with silver and cobalt ores in the Cobalt district, and also with copper ores.