DIAPHORITE

    Class : Sulfides and sulfosalts
    Subclass : Sulfosalts
    Crystal system : Monoclinic
    Chemistry : Ag3Pb2Sb3S8
    Rarity : Rare


Diaphorite is a sulphide of medium-temperature silver-bearing polymetallic hydrothermal veins. Its name comes from the Greek diaphoros (different), because it is a distinct species from freieslebenite with which it was confused. It is a rare mineral which appears massive, or in prismatic crystals becoming acicular by elongation on [001], with frequently striated faces following elongation ; the largest are almost centimeters. Diaphorite is lead gray and commonly twinned. Containing 23% silver, diaphorite is an ancillary silver ore, often recovered alongside richer ore.

Main photo : Diaphorite from Silver tunnel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada © Gianfranco Ciccolini

Diaphorite from Silver tunnel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada © Marko Burkhardt
Diaphorite from Borgofranco Mines, Piedmont, Italy © Beppe Finello
Diaphorite from Pribram, Czech Republic © Bojuslav Bures
Diaphorite from the Fournial mine, Cantal, France © Patrice Queneau

Diaphorite in the World

Very beautiful groups of diaphorite crystals come to us from Pribram (Czech Republic), Baia Sprie (Romania), Machacamarca (Oruro, Bolivia) and Silver tunnel in British Columbia (Canada). Diaphorite is also present in beautiful specimens in the silver veins of Saxony, notably at Freiberg, at Catorce (San Luis Potosi, Mexico) and at Lake Chelan (Washington).

Diaphorite in France

In France, diaphorite is present in barely millimetric crystals in several silver veins in the Massif Central : in Pontgibaud (Puy-de-Dôme), Le Deveix (Corrèze), Fournial (Cantal), Chavaniac-Lafayette (Haute-Loire). It is also reported in Peyrebrune (Tarn) and Coët Stival (Morbihan).

Twinning

Diaphorite commonly twins on {120} and {241}.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes listed for this mineral species.



Hardness : 2.5 to 3
Density : 6.04
Fracture : Irregular to sub-conchoidal
Streak : Gray


TP : Opaque
RI : -
Birefringence : -
Optical character : -
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None


Solubility : Nitric acid


Magnetism : None
Radioactivity : None