Formula: Te
Native element, selenium group
Specific gravity: 6.1 to 6.3
Hardness: 2 to 2½
Streak: Grey
Colour: Tin-white
Melting point: 449.51°C
Boiling point: 988°C
Abundance in the earth’s crust: 1 part per billion by weight, 0.2 parts per billion by moles, which makes it one of the rarest stable solid elements (Wiki).
Environments
Volcanic fumeroles
Hydrothermal environments
Tellurium is a hydrothermal vein mineral, which may be of both primary and
secondary origin, and also a sublimate in volcanic fumaroles. Associated
minerals include native gold, sylvanite,
empressite, altaite,
pyrite, galena,
alabandite, baryte,
quartz and carbonates
(HOM).
At the Emperor mine, Vatukoula, Viti Levu, Fiji, tellurium occurs as a component of massive ore intimately mixed with sulphides,
tellurides and gold, and also as fine crystals up to 4 cm long in
quartz cavities
(Minrec 39.4.300-301).
The type locality is the Mariahilf Mine, Faţa Băii, Zlatna, Alba, Romania.
At mines in the Cripple Creek mining district, Colorado, USA, tellurite in the oxidised zone with
emmonsite and native gold
(Minrec 36.2.181).
Common impurities: Se,Fe,Bi,S
Tellurium-bearing minerals include:
Sulphides
tetradymite
Tellurides
altaite
calaverite
coloradoite
empressite
frohbergite
hedleyite
hessite
krennerite
mattagamite
melonite
michenerite
montbrayite
nagyagite
petzite
rickardite
sylvanite
tellurobismuthite
vulcanite
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