Berzelianite

Cu2 Sec 2001-2005 Mineral Data Publishing, version 1

Crystal Data: Cubic. Point Group: 4/m 3 2/m.
disseminated as powdery inclusions.

As thin dendritic crusts; fine grained andPhysical Properties: Fracture: Uneven. Tenacity: Somewhat malleable. Hardness = 2.7
VHN = 21–24 (100 g load). D(meas.) = 6.71 D(calc.) = [7.28]
Optical Properties: Opaque. Color: Silver-white, tarnishing. Streak: Shining.
Luster: Metallic. Anisotropism: Isotropic, may be slightly anisotropic.
R: (400) 25.8, (420) 28.9, (440) 30.0, (460) 30.7, (480) 31.1, (500) 31.0, (520) 30.2, (540) 28.7,(560) 27.0, (580) 25.5, (600) 24.1, (620) 22.9, (640) 21.8, (660) 20.7, (680) 19.7, (700) 18.7
Cell Data:

Space Group: F m3m (synthetic).

a = 5.694(7)Z=4

X-ray Powder Pattern: Skrikerum, Sweden.
2.03 (100), 3.33 (90), 1.729 (80), 1.171 (40), 1.434 (30), 1.317 (20), 1.105 (20)
Chemistry:
CuAg
Se

(1)
57.21
3.51
39.22

(2)
61.62

Total99.94

100.0038.38(1) Skrikerum, Sweden. (2) Cu2 Se.
Polymorphism & Series:

Dimorphous with bellidoite.

Occurrence: With other selenides in hydrothermal veinlets in dolostone (Clausthal, Germany);in iron ores (Lerbach, Germany); with other selenides in calcite veins in serpentine (Skrikerum,Sweden); in a gold-quartz-orthoclase deposit (Redjang-Lebong, Sumatra).
Association: Eucairite, clausthalite, tiemannite, umangite, klockmannite, aguilarite, crookesite,athabascaite, stromeyerite, polybasite, pearceite, gold, uraninite, pyrite, marcasite, calcite.
Distribution: At Skrikerum, near Tryserum, Kalmar, Sweden [TL]. From Lerbach, Tilkerode,Zorge, Clausthal, and St. Andreasberg, Harz Mountains; at Niederschlema, Saxony; and theMullenbach uranium deposit, Black Forest, Germany. In the Czech Republic, in the Habrı́ andBukov mines, near Tisnova; at the Petrovice uranium deposit, near Ždǎr; and the Předbořice
uranium deposit, near Krásna Hora. From the Kyzylalmasay gold deposit, [??where in?? or drop]
Uzbekistan. In the Sierra de Umango, and at Tuminico, Sierra de Cacho, La Rioja Province,Argentina. From the Elefante prospect, near the Serra Pelada Au–Pd–Pt deposit, Pará, Brazil.
At Redjang-Lebong, Sumatra. From Kalgoorlie and in the Copper Hills prospect, East Pilbara
region, Western Australia, and at El Sharana, Northern Territory, Australia. In the Pinky Fault
uranium deposit, Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan, Canada. From the Durant vein, Aurora district,
Mineral Co., Nevada, USA.
Name:For Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848), Swedish chemist, who discovered selenium.

References: (1) Palache, C., H. Berman, and C. Frondel (1944) Dana’s system of mineralogy,(7th edition), v. I, 182–183. (2) Earley, J.W. (1950) Description and synthesis of the selenide
minerals. Amer. Mineral., 35, 337–364. (3) Yamamoto, K. and S. Kashida. (1991) X-ray study of
the average structures of Cu2 Se and Cu1.8 S in the room temperature and the high temperaturephases. J. Solid State Chem., 93, 202–211. (4) Sindeeva, N.D. (1964) Mineralogy and typesof deposits of selenium and tellurium, 65–67. (5) Criddle, A.J. and C.J. Stanley, Eds. (1993)
Quantitative data file for ore minerals, 3rd ed. Chapman & Hall, London, 44.
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