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Formula: Ag2HgS2
Sulphide
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 7.846 calculated
Hardness: 2½ to 3
Streak: Dark grey
Colour: Black
Environments
Localities
At Ramsbeck, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, imiterite occurs in a hydrothermal vein deposit associated with
acanthite, pyrite,
marcasite, polybasite and
calcite
(HOM).
The type locality is the Imiter mine, Tinghir Cercle, Tinghir Province, Drâa-Tafilalet Region, Morocco, where imiterite is
hydrothermally formed at temperatures around 70oC; above 215oC a combination of
argentite and cinnabar crystallises instead.
Imiterite occurs either in quartz veins or, much more commonly, in cavities in
dolomite veins.
In quartz veins it occurs with proustite -
pyrargyrite ores, often overgrown by
acanthite or cinnabar, and partial
pseudomorphs of these minerals after imiterite are known. It also forms crusts on
the walls of quartz cavities associated with
proustite and xanthoconite.
In dolomite veins imiterite sometimes forms a substrate on which small crystals of
siderite and calcite rest; occasionally it is found
overgrown on acanthite, or it may be associated with
cinnabar and freibergite (Min Rec 42-2.125).
Other associated minerals include chalcopyrite,
sphalerite, polybasite,
galena and arsenopyrite
(AM 71.1278, HOM).
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