268

Mineralogical notes on Western Australian Tellurides:
the non-existence of 'Kalgoorlite' and ' Coolgardite 'as mineral species.
By L. J. SrE~CER, M.A., F.G.S.
Assistant in the Mineral Department of the British Museum.
[Read June 10, 1902.]

C E the occurrence of tellurides of gold in Western Australia was
S I Nfirstrecognized by Mr. Arthur G. Holroyd 1 in May, 1896, theseminerals have proved to be of the greatest importance as a sourceof gold; .and in fact the telluride mines at Kalgoorlie in the East
Co.olgardie gold-field now yield as much gold as all the remaining goldfields of Western Australia taken together.
Although the occurrence of traces of telluride of gold has been reported
fl'om one or two other localities in the neighbouring portions of Western
Australia, it is only in a quite small area around Kalgoorlie that thetellurides are mined. Here they occur as ]odes, or rather as large
lenticular masses and as impregnations, in schistose rocks. It is only,
however, below a certain depth that the tellurides are found; nearer
the surface, where the rocks have been weathered and altered, theseminerals have been decomposed with the separation of native gold.
The tellurides occur in irregularly bounded crystalline masses, andunfortunately appear never to have been found as crystals with planesurfaces. The discovery of such crystals would be full of interest froma scientific point of view, and would afford a solution of many problems,
which must, for the present, be left undecided. With the occurrenceof such largo crystalline masses of te]]urides there can be little doubt
but that one day crystals will be found ; and these will probably surpass
those hitherto obtained from other parts of the world. Cavities in theore appear to be only rarely present, and when these are met with theyshould be searched for crystals.
For references to original papcrs scep. 289 below.

MINERALOGICALNOTES ONWESTERN

AUSTRALIANTELLURIDES.

269

In the present paper are given the results of a purely mineralogicalexamination of the specimens of Western Australian tellurides preservedin the mineral collection of the British Museum. In this collection
there are 129 samples of gold-ores and auriferous specimens from
Western Australia, of which sixty-five came from Kalgoorlie; tellurides 1
are present on forty-eight of the Kalgoorlie specimens, which have beenacquired at various times since 1897. I have also had opportunities
of inspecting many other specimens of Western Australian tellurides
at the London offices of some of the gold-mining companies and at
the Colonial Exhibition in London in 1902, but have seen nothingessentially different from the British Museum specimens to be described
below.
The whole of this rich material, with the exception of only two
specimens, has been presented to the Trustees by the several goldmining companies, by tile Government of Western Australia, throughthe Royal Commission appoil~ted for the exhibition of the products ofthat State, and by various private individuals. Many of the specimens
thus made available for examination by the generosity of the various
donors are of considerable intrinsic value. A large proportion of thismaterial had been specially collected by Mr. A. G. Holroyd, the~[ineral Curator of the exhibits, for the Paris Exhibition of 1900;
previous to this it had been shown at the Coolgardie Exhibition of1899, and subsequently at the Glasgow Exhibition of 1901, and ata small Colonial Exhibition at the l~oyal Exchange in London in 1902.
At the close of the last exhibition an immense amount of valuable
material, including numerous large, showy masses of native gold andgold telluride, was sent by the owners to be converted into bullion.
In 1900, Mr. L. Fletcher, F.R.S., Keeper of ~inerals in the British~uscum, after inspecting the mineral specimens at the Paris Exhibition,
called the attention of Mr. ttolroyd and of the exhibiting companies
to the importance to science of the permanent preservation of specimens
illustrative of the modes of occurrence of gold in Western Australia,
and as a result was promised, for the British Museum, s gift of various
specimens as soon as they should be no longer required by the companies
for the purpose of exhibition. In 1902, during the last days of theColonial Exhibition in London, )~r. Fletcher personally interviewed the
1 Besides the Kalgoorlie tellurides, there are specimens of tetradymite (bismuth
telluride) with native gold in white quartz from the Dunallan No. 1 gold-mine,lear
Coolgardie in the Coolgardle gold-field, which were presented to the Museum by
Mr. A. O. Watkins in 1895.

270

T,. a'. SP~C~R O~

Hen. H. W. Venn, President of the above-mentioned Royal Commission,and the Hen. H. B. Lefroy, Agent-General for Western Australia andformerly ~inister of i~ines, and enlisted the active sympathy of both ;a large series of specimens, enthusiastically selected by )Ir. ttolroyd,who was familiar with their peculiarities, was thus saved from destruction, and was presented by the owners to the Trustees of the British~[useum.
Calaverite. This is the most abundant and the richest in gold of all
the telhrides, and was also the first to be discovered at Kalgoorlie.
I t is easily recognizable by its pale bronze-yellow colour with brightmetallic lustre, and its sub-conchoidal fracture with absence of cleavage.
It somewhat resembles iron-pyrites in appearance, and in fact some of
the material found by ~Ir. Holroyd in 1896 had actually been thrownaway as such on the waste-heaps.
The mineral occurs sometimes in masses of considerable size, as isshown by a very large specimen (No. 86066) in the British Museum.
This mass, from the Associated Gold )Iines of Western Australia, issaid to be the largest that has been raised. With the matrix ofgreenish schist it weighs 180 pounds, and over the whole of one surface,measuring about 63 • 18 era. (25 • 7 inches), there is a thick depositof various tellurides; the calaverite, however, predominates in amount,being in one place continuous over an area of 40 x 15 cm.
When ca]averite is heated on charcoal in the oxidizing flame of theblowpipe, the tellurium it contains is readily oxidized, giving rise to~tense white fumes and imparting a bright bluish-green colour to theflame, a bead of gold being left behind. When heated in a bulb-tube,
calaverite gives a black sublimate of metallic tellurium, and a lessvolatile sublimate of drops of tellurous oxide (TeO~), which is yellow
when hot and white or colourless when cold ; a yellow malleable beadof gold is not obtained in this way. During the cooling of the beads
so obtained, either on charcoal or in the bulb-tube, the interesting
phenomenon of recalescence was sometimes observed--after a red-hot
bead had become dark it suddenly and momentarily again flashed out
red and glowing. This behaviour, which was also exhibited by beads
obtained from sylvanite, appeared to depend on the presence of a small
amount of tellurium still remaining in the bead.
Several chemical analyses have been made of the calaverite from
Kalgoorlie, and these, for convenience of reference and comparison, arecollected together below. The calculated percentage composition correspending to the formula AuT% is given at the head of the list.

MINERALOGICAL NOTES ON W E S T E R N A U S T R A L I A N T E L L U R I D E S .

271

Analyses of Oalaveritefrom Kalgoorlie.
Analyst.

Te. I Au.

Ag.

AuTe2 56.8 ~3.7
55
44
trace
54
89.2 3Mingaye (Pitt'man,"1897) 56.65 41.76 0.80
57.27 41.87 0.58
Simpson (1898)
Rogers (quoted by Simp159.69 38.70 1.66
son, 1898) .
Holroyd (1897)

Total. Sp. gr.
1O0.0
99
96-2
99.21 9.377
99.22 9.311

Cu,0.21 ; Fe. 0.18;)
S, 0,09 ; Pb, Bi,~ 100.58
Zn, tra~s.
)Cu, 0.29; Fe,0.09; )Ni, 0.07; Se, 100.14
Kliiss (Krusch, 1901) .]5863 37.54 2.06
1.13; S, 0.10;~
gangue, 0.23. }. 60.30 33.90 4.82 Cu, 0.63 ; Fe. trace 9 99.65
Carnot~901)
McGeorve (quoted by
99.8. 54.1 42.6 to7 Arsenopyrite, 2.4
Simpson, 1902) .
99.75 9.314
57.00 42.15 0.60
MacIvor (1902)
S y l v a n i t e . This is of much less frequent occurrence at Kalgoorlle
than the other tellurides containing gold. I t is recognizable by its
silver-white colour with brilliant metallic lustre and its perfect cleavage
in one direction. It occurs in masses of some size, much larger thanthose from Transylvania and Colorado; thus one of the British ~[useum
specimens shows the perfect cleavage uniform in direction through amass 8 era. in length, and another.mass measures 489 era. in a direction
perpendicular to the cleavage. These large crystalline individuals show
no plane crystal-faces, but sometimes, on their rough, striated exterior,
there are unmistal{able indications of twinning about a plane perpendicular to the direction of cleavage.
I t is, however, to he noted that the silver-white colour and the single
perfect cleavage are characters possessed by krennerite as well as bysylvanlte. Both minerals are further referable to the same type ofchemical formula, namely (Au,Ag)T%; hut while sylvanite appears
to be fairly conBtant in composition, approximating to the formula
AuAgTe,, krennerite on the other hand varies considerably, the amountof silver, for example, having been given at 0.46, 5.87, and 19.44
per cent. in different analyses of material from Transylvania andColorado. It would thus be only possil)le to distinguish with certainty
between these two species when crystals are available for the deterruination of their symmetry, sylvanite being monoclinie and krennerite
orthorhombic.

272

L. J. SPENCER ON

The silver-white, cleavable gold and silver telluride of Kalgoorlie may
thus be either sylvanite or krennerite, or possibly both. Under thecircumstances it appears best, for the present, to refer to it as sylvanite,since krennerite has as yet been found only in minute crystals which are
not twinned. Again, the krennerite of Transylvania and Colorado is
described as decrepitating violently when heated before the blowpipe:none of the Western Australian material in the British ~[uscum behavesin this way, but fuses readily and quietly.
Attention may be called here to a statement by Mr. E. S. Simpson(1898, p. 48): he mentions ' small rhombic crystals with deep verticalstriations of a telluride of gold, perhaps Krennerite,' as being associatedwith calaverite, eoloradoite, and native gold on a specimen from the
Kalgurli mine. This observation, if correct, is of some importance, but
no mention of it is made by ~[r. Simpson (1902) in his collected noteson Kalgoorlie tellurides: moreover, cleavable telluride is also referredby him to calaverite and goldschmidtite ~.
Of the analyses quoted below, three approach the formula AuAgTe,,
while the first, in containing much less silver, is quite distinct: for thisreason the material analysed by Dr. Frenzel has been referred byProfessor Hintze 2 to krenncrite.

Analyses of Sylvanite (and Kq'ennerite ?) from Kalgoorlie.
Analyst.

Frenzel (1897)

re.

AU.

Ag.

Total. Sp. gr

AuAgT% 62.5

24.2

13.3

100.0

--

58.63 86.60 3.82

WSlbling (Krusch, 1901) 60.83 28.55

99.05 8.14
Cu,0.32; Fe,0.06 ;]Ni, 0.10; Se, L
9.76
0.20; S, 0.09;[ 99.96 - gangue, 0.05. )9.18 Cu, 0.15 ; Ni, 0.10
99.73 - -Carnot (1901)
60.45 29.85
Higgln (quoted by Simp:son. 1902) .
54.50 36.95 8.30

99.75

--

P e t z i t e . This is readily distinguished from the other gold and silver
telluridcs by its iron-black eolour with metallic lustre and the marked
conchoidal fracture with absence of cleavage. I t is, however, absolutely
indistinguishable in appearance from the mercury telluride, coloradoite;
i Goldschmidtite was described in 1899 as a gold aad silver telluride from Colorado,
but was proved the following year to be identical with sylvanlte.
2 Handbuch der Mineralogie, 1901. vol. i, p. 898.

MINEllALOGICAL NOTES ON W E S T E R N A U S T R A L I A N T E L L U R I D E S . 2 7 3

and it also resembles more or less closely another Kalgoorlie mineral tobe mentioned below, namely, fahlerz.
When heated on charcoal ill the oxidizing flame of the blowpipe,
petzite produces only slightly the bluish-green colouration of the flameand the dense white fumes characteristic of tellurimn ; only when fusedwi~h sodium carbonate does it give a white malleable bead, and thiswhen placed in nitric acid becolnes yelh)w. Calaverite and sylvanite,on the other hand, are much less stable, and are readily converted intoa bead of gold by si,nply heating on charcoal in the oxidizing flame ;this, however, takes place much more readily with calaverite than withsylvanite, since the latter contains more silver in eombinalion with thetellurimn.
The analyses quoted below agree closely, like the analyses of
petzite from other localities, with the formula (Ag,Au)2Te , in which
A g : Au ~ 3 : 1 ; the formula may therefore be written as 3Ag2Te. Au2Te
or AgsAuT %.

A~.lyses of Petzite from K~dgoorlie.
Analyst.

Te.

Au.

Ag [

Total.

Ag:~Au'l'e.2 32.8
WSlbling (Krusch, 1901) 32.60 21.33 40.701~ 0.0,'-:,; 8% 1.45; S,~ 99.71( 0.26; g'an/ue, 0.12.
)
13 31 t tfg, 0.Sb; Cu, 0.20; Fe,}
Carnot (1901).
. 31.58 .o358... - "~ trace; Sb, 0.30.
~ 99.85,,.
.
32.33 2-1.1t; 11,22 tlg, 2.00; Ca, 0.10 .
. 99.81I,,
33.00 23.42 41.37 Ila', 2.26 ; Cu, 0.16 .
. 100.21
Grace (quoted by R~ck-"
ard, 1901) .
34-(;0 2.1.(;4 .1o.47 I t[g, 0.29 . . . .
i 100.00,,,,
34.~3 21.(;2140.55 I!100.00
The mercury shown in ~hese analyses, especially ill tWO by Professor(:arnot, is no doubt due to the 1)resence of coloradoite as an i m p u r i t y(d. p. 284).
Two other analyses, not quoted above, of gold and silver telluride from
Kalgoorlie are given by Dr. Kruseh ~ and by Professor Carnot'~. The
formulae corresponding to these analyses may be split u 1) as follows : - (1)(Ag,Au)~T% = 2,~ (Ag,Au)~Te+- ~-(Au,Ag)T%,Te.
Au.
At'. H~. Cu. Fe. Ni. Zn. Sb.
S. Gangue. Total.
i 36.90 15.06 45.95 - - 1.16 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.12 0.45 0.22 100.04
41.11 26.10 30.43 0.70 0.60 0.40
0.80
100.14

274

L.J.

SPENCERON

suggesting that the substances analysed were probably mixtures of
petzite and ealaverite. It should be noted, however, that the percentage
of silver given by Dr. Krusch is 1,igher than in any of the petzite
analyses quoted above, and this may indicate the presence of hessite(see p. 282). Professor Carnot himself suggests that the material heanalysed was a mixture.
All these analyses of Western Australian tellu,ides have of necessity
been made on massive material, and in no case does it appear thatspecial precautions were taken to collect pure material all of one kind.
Accurate analyses of carefully selected and measured crystals aredesirable.
I t seems probable that in these tellurides the gold and silver do
not isomorphously replace each other, as is usually considered to be
the ease, but that they are present in atomic proportions, as indicatedin the formulae adopted above. These formulae may represent double
tellurides or possibly simple salts (perhaps tellur-aurates, analogous tosulph-antimonites).
Coloradoite. This telluride of mercury, with its iron-black colour
and well-marked eonchoidal fracture, is identical in appearance withpetzite, from which it can only be distinguished by chemical tests.
In fact, it has no doubt previously been mistaken for petzite, and, as
will be shown below, a mixture of coloradoite and petzite has been
described as a supposed new mineral species under the name 'kalgoorlite.'
Only two of the several authors (Rickard and Simpson) writing on
Western Australian tellurides have mentioned eoloradoite as being
present on the specimens examined by them ; and it has been considered
to be of rare occurrence. In reality, however, it is comparatively
abundant, for of the forty-eight Western Australian telluride specimens
in the British ~useum, coloradoite is present on twenty-eight.
In the examination of these specimens ninety-nine fragments of coloradoitewere separatelydetermined. This can be donevery readily and quickly
by heating on charcoal before the blowpipe or in a bulb-tube; in eachcase the reactions are quite distinct from those of petzite (and of fahlerz,
which also somewhat resembles coloradoite in appearance). On charcoal
the mineral readily fuses and co]ours the flame bright bluish-green, emits
dense white fumes, and in a very short time completely disappears. In
the closed tube it fuses with spluttering to a black globule, and gives
a sublimate of globules of mercury and a much less volatile sublimate ofMINERALOGICALNOTESON W E S T E R N

AUSTRALIAN

T~LLURIDES.

275

drops of tellurous oxide, the latter being yellow when hot and whi~c orcolourless when cold; with a larger fragment of material a black sublimate of metallic tellurium is also obtained.
The only quantitative analysis made on Western Australian coloradoite
is by Mr. E. S. Simpson (1899), who obtained the results quoted below.
The same author had previously (1898) given the specific gravity of
another sample of material as 9.21.
Ha.
50.40

Ag.
0.12

Au.
trace

Te (by difference).
[49.48].

These numbers give the formula Hg~T%, and not HaTe, the accepted
formula for coloradoite deduced by 1)rofessor F. A. Genth for the Colorado
mineral discovered by him in 1877. The material analysed by Professor
Genth was, however, very impure, containing admixed quartz, gold,
sylvanite, a n d native tellurium up to nearly 50 per cent.; but theheavier portions obtained by levigation contained more mercury andless tellurium, and approximated more closely to the formula HgTe.
The Co]orado material was therefore scarcely suitable for establishing
the formula of the mineral, while on the other hand the ibrlnula
proposed by Mr. Simpson is based only on a single mercury determination. I t therefore seemed desirable to make a new analysis, especiallyas a large amount of pure material was available ibr this purpose.
The specimen {Brit. ]~[us. No. 85221) chosen from which to collectmaterial for the present analysis was one on which no petzite or fahlerz
had been detected. The only other telluride ~ observed is sylvanite,which shows a brilliant cleavage surface several centimetres across, andcould not possibly have been confused with the coloradoite. The brightcoloradoite shows excellent conchoidal fractures over comparatively large
areas, in one case 2 • 2 cm., and in every way seems to be quite pure.
The matrix of the specimen, which is from the Great Boulder Main Reef
gold-mine at Kalgoorlie, is a green schist interbanded with white
granular dolomite; quartz and iron-pyrites are also present.
Three separate lots of material were collected from the same part ofthis specimen. I n detaching material it usually broke up into quite
1 To be quite accurate, there was afterwards detected a small compact mass, which,from its appearance under the microscope and its behaviour befo1~ethe blowpipe,
probably consists of an intimate intermixtm'c of petzite and sylvanite. This was the
single case in which there was any doubt in the determinatiol~s. It is here of no
moment, since it is quite separate from the coloradoite and could not possibly havebeen confused with this.
T 2

276

L. J . SPENCER ON

small fragments. Each of these fragments was examined under a lenson a sheet of white paper and in a good light, being turned about witha needle mounted in a handle. Each fragment on which the brigi~tconchoidal fracture was interrupted was then separately picked up andagain examined under a microscope, the one-inch objective of which isfitted with a lieberkuhn. Further, of the material so collected, twenty-one
frag~aents were examimd by heating on charcoal or in a bulb-tube to
make certain that no petzite was present and that all was coloradoite.
The coloradoite so collected for analysis was of an iron-black colourwith bright metallic lustre, and was quite opaque. I t had an excellent
conchoidal fracture with no indication of cleavage. The streak was
black and shining. The mineral was rather brittle, but extremely
friable. Hardness, 2{. The specific gravity was determined with a 3 c.c.
pycnometer on the three lots of material with the following results(reduced to water at 4~:-Sp. fir.
8.074
8.077
8.062
Mean

Weight of material used.
2.0505 gram.
1.7032 ,,1.2911 ,,8.07

This result differs considerably from previous determinations. Mr.
Simpson gives for the Kalgoorlie coloradoite the value 9.21; andProfessor Genth gives 8.627 for the Colorado mineral after allowing forthe large amount of impurities present.
The following are the results of one complete, and one incomplete,analysis, together with the calculated percentage composition corresponding to the formula HgTe : - Hg
Te

I.

II.

HgTe.

60.95
39.38

59-4
35.8

61.2
38.8

100.33100.0

In analysis I, 1.2833 gram of powdered material was decomposedwith nitric acid; the decomposition took place readily and completely,
and after expelling nitric acid, the residue was completely soluble inwater and hydrochloric acid; gold and silver were therefore absent.
The sulphides, precipitated by hydrogen sulphide, were separated bydigestion with hot, yellow ammonium sulphide, and the insoluble
mercury sulphide dried at 100~ (H~S, 0.9074 gram). The tellurium

MINERALOGICAL NOTES ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN T E L L U R I D E S .

277

was precipitated in the metallic state from a boiling hydrochloric acidsolution by ammonium bisulphite and dried at 100~ (Te, 0.5054 gram).
These results are confirmed by another analysis previously made, inwhich more direct determinations were attempted. The behaviour ofthe mineral when heated in a bulb-tube suggested that, if heated in
a combustion-tube in a current of air, metallic mercury and tellurium
dioxide could be weighed separately. Under these conditio,s, however,
the tellurium was not completely oxidized, and part of it volatilized withthe mercury. The same also happened when the mineral was heatedwith sodium carbonate. The powdered material (anal. II, 2.1091 grams)
was therefore mixed with a little potassium nitrate and an excess of
sodium carbonate and heated in a combustion-tube, at the closed endof which sodium bicarbonate had been placed to expel the last tracesof mercury. A globule of mercury (Hg, 1.2586 gram) was collectedunder water ; as, however, some nitrous fumes were evolved, the mercury
was slightly attacked in the cool part of the tube. The residue in the
tube was dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the tellurium precipitatedby ammonium bisulphite (Te, 0.7546 gram), but it was afterwards foundthat the precipitation was not quite complete.
These analyses conclusively prove that the formula of coloradoite is
HgTe, and not Hg,T% as suggested by Mr. Simpson. The formula HgTe
is the one to be expected from the relation of coloradoite to metaeinnabarite (HgS) and tiemannite (HgSe). These minerals, which resemblecoloradoite in their black colour and absence of cleavage, have beenfound as tetrahedral-cubic crystals, and it is probable that crystals ofcoloradoite when met with will be found to have the same symmetry.
As shown in the following table there is an anomaly, for which no
explanation can be given, presented by the specific gravity of this groupof isomorphous minerals, the specific gravity of eoloradoite being lessthan that of tiemannite, instead of greater, as is to be expected.
__F~
Mctacinnabarite.
Tiemannite . .
Coloradoite . . [

HgS
HgSe
HgTe

Crystal-class.

Sp. gr.

Tetrahcdral-cubic 7.81 (Pcnfield)
8.19
,,
Ditto
8.07
t
Ditto?

The determinations of Mr. E. S. Simpson, namely, the formula Hg2T %and sp. gr. = 9.21 (which it must be remembered were not both determined on the same sample of material), led him to consider whether the
mercury telluride of Kalgoorlie he examined was identical o1' not with

278

L.J. SPENCER ON

that of Colorado. Though of course it is possible that other mercury
tellurides besides coloradoi~e (HgTe) may occur in nature, it will be best,for the present, to consider all the Kalgoorlie material to be coloradoite,
as does Mr. Simpson himself.
Altaite. This mineral, the cubic lead telluride (PbTe), which has nothitherto been recorded from Western Australia, was found in small
amount on three of the British Museum specimens, all from the Great
Boulder Proprietary gold-rain e. It is of a lead-grey colour, sometimes
with a yellowish tarnish, and has three perfect cleavages at right angles
to each other; measurements of the cleavage angles on the goniome~ergave approximately 90 ~. In appearance it resembles galena, but qualitative chemical tests, both before the blowpipe and in the wet way, proved
the presence of lead and telluritun and the absence of sulphur.
I t may be useful to place on record, in the following table, the various
telhrides which were found more closely associated together, i.e. on thesame specimen, and the several mines from which they come. This tableis, however, only complete so far as concerns specimens now preserved in
the British Museum collection.
Of these forty-eight specimens, calaverite is present on twenty-nine,sylvanite on ten, petzite on fourteen, coloradoite on twenty-eight, andaltaite on only three. More than one kind of telluride is shown by
twenty-five of the specimens, and on eleven there are three kinds.
The minerals found in association with the tellurides on the British
Museum specimens now remain to be briefly described.
Gold. Native gold is more abundant in the upper, oxidized portionsof the lodes, having here resulted by the decomposition of the tellurides.
This secondary gold is present in a finely divided state : when in loose,
finely crystallized aggregates it is known as 'sponge-gold'; when dull
and lustreless, with quite the appearance of yellow ochre, it is known as' m u s t a r d - g o l d ' ; and when in bright films as 'paint-gold.' A largo
quantity, about 70 pounds, of specially fine and pure 'sponge-gold'
was found in a single pocket in the Great Boulder Proprietary goldmine; this consists of a cellular aggregate of minute crystals of gold,
which, when examined under the microscope, appear to be cubooctahedra.
Fihns of secondary gold are also present on one or two of the telluride
specimens; but most of the native gold which occurs actually intermixed with the tellurides appears to be of primary origin and to havebeen deposited at the same time as the tellurides themselves. ThisMINERAL0(~ICAL NOTES ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TEL~URIDES. 279

Specimen No.
(Brit. Mus.).

83483
83636 a
83636 b
83637
83638
83639
83640
86002
85932
85217
85218
85219
85220
85221
85980
85344
85345
85958
85959
85960
85961
85962
85963
85964
85965
85967
85969
85970
85971
85972
85973
85974
85977
85978
85979
85981
85983
86066
85984
85985
85991
85993
85994
85995
85996
86000
86008
86009

Gold-mine at Kalgoorlle,

~

~

~

Quartz, iron-pyrites,
serJcite, chlorite,and dolomite on
most specimens.)(Not stated) .
.
Lake View Consols

Films of secondary
gold.

X
x

Hannah's Block 45
Great Boulder Main Reef"~aloRe.
X
x
x
x
X

x

Great Boulder Prop'rietary

x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x
x

Great Boulder Perseverance

x
x
X
X

X

Associated Gold Mines, W.A.
•
X
x

X

x
x
x

X
x
x

Hannah's Brown Hill
Hannan's StarSouth Kalgurli

x
X

Gold.
Gold.
Gold.
Gold.
Altaite.

x
x
X
x
X

Ivanhoe Gold Corporation
Golden Horse-Shoe Estates
J Brown Hill Extended

Fahlerz.
Fahlerz.

x
x

A ssociated" Northern" Blocks

Other mineralsxxx

Altaite.
Altaite.
I Chaleopyrite.
Gold.
Gold.
Gold.

:Gypsum.
Fahlerz.
Gold.
Gold.
Chaleopyrlte.
Gold
Tourmaline.
I Tourmaline.
Brown-spar.
Gold.
Magnetite.
Fahler~.

280

L . J . SPEhCEir O~

primary gold is present in thicker and more lumpy masses than the
finely divided secondary gold.
,Fahlerz. This somewhat closely resembles the pctzite and coloradoite
in appearance; it has the same conchoidal fracture, but the iron-black
colour is rather darker and often somewhat dull ou the surface. The
streak is black; H.----4. Qualitative analysis showed the presenceof copper, sulphur, and arsenic, with rather less antimony and a little
iron and zinc. Small patches of the massive mineral were found on
four of the telluride specimens.
This is without doubt the same mineral as the copper-ore noted by
Dr. Krusch (1901, p. 202, footnote), for which he gives no name, but
states that the composition is near that of enargite. From the analysis
he gives, I have deduced the fahlerz formula 1This formula partly accounts for the excess of sulphur, which is, in any
case, much less than that required by the enargite formula. The
analysis shows the pre~ence of 16.87 per cent. of arsenic and 4.30 per
cent. of antimony, so that the mineral is nearer to tennantite than totetrahedrite.
Magnetite. Three or four crystals, each measuring about a centimetre
across, were found embedded in the tellurides on a single specimen fromthe Kalgurli mine. They are iron-black with a bright metallic lustre,
and are strongly magnetic. The small faces present on one crystal
were determined on the goniomcter to be those of the octahcdronand rhombie dodecahedron. The crystals are remarkaifle in possessing
perfect parting-planes parallel to the faces of the octahedron. Fromthe surfaces of parting are often to be seen deep-red flashes of reflected
light; and when a piece of the mineral is crushed and examined underthe microscope many fragments are seen to be blood-red hy transmitted
light and to be doubly refracting. The streak of the mineral is dark
purplish-brown, but that of the portion of the powder attracted bya magnet is black. I n these crystals there has thcrefbre been a partial
alteration along the parting-planes of the magnetite to hematite, andthey really represent a stage in the formation of martite.
Calcite appears to be present on only one specimen, this being
a portion of the original material from Hannan's Block 45, discoveredby Mr. Holroyd in 1896. I t has the character of a white crystalline
limestone, in which tile calaverite is embedded. Dolomite, on the otheri Compare this Magazine, 1899, vol. xii, p. 202.

MINERALOGICAL NOT:ES ON WESTEtIN AUSTRALIAN T:ELLURIDES. 2 8 1

hand, is present on most specimens; it usually forms grey, compact
bands interfoliated in the greenish schist. On one specimen are cleavablemasses of brown-spar (probably mesitite).
Tourmaline occurs as small black needles, 2 to 3 ram. in length,
embedded in iron-pyrites and in the rock. It has a specific gravity
of about 3.2, and the dichroic colours wtry from quite black to nearly
eolourless. A very little chalco2yrite is enclosed in coloradoite on one
specimen; on another it is represented by a mere speck in quartz. Veinsof fibrous gypsum penetrate the altered rock of one specimen.
The matrix ~ of the telluride specimens is usually a pale greenishs e r i c i t e - s c h i s t with a silvery reflection, and soft enough to be scratchedby the finger-nail. Minute grains and crystals, usually cubes, ofiron-2yrites are scattered tl!roughout the whole rock. Chlorite isalso often present, and the rock is then of a darker green colour, andmay approach a chlorite-schist in character.
Interfoliated with theschist are often bands of grey, granular dolomite, so that at times therock has rather the character of a calc-schist. Patches of massive,
colour]ess quartz and of finely granular iron-pyrites are sometimes
present, especially in close association with the tellurides, though not invery large amounts. The tellurides are embedded in the schist as
irregular masses of variable size, and often follow joint-planes obliqueto the schistosity; the rock appears never to be finely impregnated with
tellurides as it is with iron-pyrites.
A more detailed examination was made of the rock of the large
specimen (No. 86066). A thin section, perpendicular to the sehistosity,
showed under the microscope much sericite and a considerable amountof quartz. The quartz is present as fairly large, irregular individuals,
usually with a more or less marked undulose extinction, and also as
patches of mosaic. Much iron-pyrites is present as small grains; only
one speck of black telluride was to be seen. There are also many
irregular patches of ilmenite, which shows well-marked planes of partingand has been largely altered to ' leucoxene.' These small masses ofilmenite give rise to a knotted appearance on the surfaces of foliation as
seen in a hand-specimen of the schist. A chemical examination of the
1 The m a t r i x of t h e ()re is o f t e n s t a t e d to be h o r n h l e n d c - s c h i s t .

No hornblende

was detected on any of the British Museum specimens; and in lmhlishcd analyses(Simpson, 1902) of these rocks the small amount of magnesia in the portion of therock insolublein hydrochloric acid indic~ltesthat not much, if any, hornblendecan bepresent. Bands of hornblende-schist arc no doubt sometimes present in the sericitcschist. Muchconfusionhetwccn observed fact and theory has been occasionedby theattempts of various authors to explain the origin of these schists.

282

L.J.

SP]~NCER ON

rock showed the presence of silica, alumina, iron, alkalies (potash andsoda), and a little lime ; when heated in a bulb-tube it blackens and gives
off scarcely any water. The ilmenite was proved to contain iron andtitanium, and to be non-magnetic.
The altered rocks from the upper portions of the lodes are soft andclayey and yellow in colour, but they usually still retain their schistosecharacter. Besides limonite and the finely divided secondary gold, few
other minerals are found in these oxidized ores. On one specimen, fromthe Golden Horse-Shoe Estates, the 'sponge-gold' is accompanied bya few small colourless rhombohedra of dolomite, and a yellowish-green
ochreous substance which is perhaps massicot (PbO) 1.
With the alteration of such large quantities of tellurides one would
expect to find other secondary minerals together with the native gold,such, for example, as native silver (from the petzite) and oxygen
compounds of tellurium (tellurite (TeO2), emmonslte, durdenite, &c.),
but none of these were detected 2 on the British Museum specimens.
Mr. Simpson (1898, p. 46) suggests the occurrence of emmonsite (hydrated
ferric teIlurite), and ]Kr. Rickard (1901, p. 712) mentions the presenceof tellurite of iron on a specimen from Kalgoorlie. Silver chloride isstated to have been found in considerable quantity near the surface in
one of the mines (Pittman, 1898, p. 11).
Other minerals, which have been described as occurring with the
Kalgoorlie tellurides, but which were not detected on the British Museum
specimens, are native tellurium (Holroyd, 1897 ; MacIvor, 1900) androscoelite (Pearce, 1897). ttessite (Schmeisser, 1897, p. 50; Krusch,
1901), amalgam (Pittman, 1898), and native mercury (Riekard, 1901,
p. 715) have also been mentioned; and Simpson gives several othernames in his lists of minerals, but without particulars.

K A L G O O R L I T E ' AND ' ~OOLGARDITE.'

Kalgoorlite' was described by Mr. E. F. Pittman in 1898 as a newmineral species with an iron-black colour and sub-concboidal fracture,a specific gravity of 8.791, and a chemical composition expressed by theformula HgAu~Ag6Te e. The analysis, by Mr. J. C. H. Mingaye, fromwhich this fol~nula was deduced, is quoted below. The material on
1 A chemical examination showed the presence of much lead, with a little copper
and water, and possibly some antimony.
9 It is possible that some of the yellowish earthy material, taken to be limonite,
may contain tellurium in the oxidized state, but none of this was examined chemically.

M I N E R A L O G I C A L NOTES ON WESTERN A U S T R A L I A N T E L L U R I D E S .

283

which the new name was based came from the Lake View and Boulder
Junction gold-mine at Kalgoorlie. Recently Mr. E. S. Simpson (1902)
states that in ' a sample from the Ivanhoe Mine' he found gold 19.4,
silver 80.1 per cent.
'Coolgardite' was based by Professor Adolphe Carnot in 1901 on
the results of three analyses, from which he deduced the formula(Au, Ag,Hg,Cu,Fe,Sb)2T%, or more simply (Au,Ag,Hg)2T%; the newmineral being defined as a sesquitelluride of gold, ~ilver, and mercury.
The material he examined was supplied for analysis by Mr. A. G. Ho]roydfrom the Western Australian exhibits at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 ;it consisted of fragments, isolated from the matrix and contained in six
tubes, all of which, with the exception of one tube of sylvanite, werelabelled as being from the Great Boulder Proprietary gold:mine at
Kalgoorlie. Professor Carnot remarks that the material contained ineach tube was not always the same in appearance and colour, but adds
that he took the precaution of separating the different kinds when thequantity of material available for analysis permitted.
He further
remarks that the material contained in each tube may have been takenfrom different specimens. I n addition t o ' coolgardite' he made analyses,
quoted above, of sylvanite, calaverite, and petzite.
Two analyses (Nos. 1 and 2 in the following table) of 'coolg~rditc'
were made on material belonging to the same lot. This is described as
only exceptionally showing indications of cleavage, the fracture being
almost always conchoidal: the colour of the different fragments wasiron-grey, or yellowish-grey inclining to bronze ; separate analyses were
therefore made of two fragments. Another analysis (No. 3) was madeon a sample of material described as yellowish-grey with a conchoidal
fracture.
Te.

' Kalgoorlite'

Au.

Ag.

20.72

30.98 10.86 0.05; S, 0.18.

'Coolgardlte' (1) I 56.55 23.15 16.65(2) 53.70 27.75 13.60',',(3) 51.13 87.06 4.71

Hg.

Cu.

Total.
100.00Fe. Sb.
3.10 0.10 trace 0.20 99.75
8.70 0.25 trace 0.15 99.15
8.70 0.88 0.90 1.20 99.58

That 'kalgoorlite' is not a homogeneous mineral, but a mixture, hasalready been suggested by Mr. T. A. Rickard (1901, p. 715), who withreference to it remarks: ' As the crystallographic features It. e. external
characters] do not differ materially from coloradoitej it can hardly be considered as more than an impure variety of the latter, and may be looked

284

L . J . SW~C~R O~

upon as. a mixture of petzite and coloradoite.' Again, Professor Carnot
applies the name ' kalgoorlite' to a ' mercurial petzite,' of which he gives
three analyses (quoted above, under petzite) ; the ' ka]goorlite' of Carnot
is, however, considerably different in composition from the ' kalgoorlite'
of Pittman, and this adds support to Rickard's suggestion.
A fact that strikes one as being specially remarkable is that neither
Mr. Pittman nor Professor Carnot, both of whom describe more than one kindof telluride, makes any mention of eoloradoite. This telluride of mercury
is, as noted above, of frequent occurrence at J~algoorlie, and, furthermore,
had been found there beibre the descriptions of ' ka]goorlite' and 'coolg a r d i t e ' were published: it was recognized by Mr. T. A. Riekard in
1897, and in the same year a specimen showing ealaverite and coloradoite
was represented in the British Museum collection. This is a point ofspecial importance, since it is impossible to distinguish between coloradoite
and petzite by their appearance alone. I t would be extremely difficult, if
not impossible, to collect pure material for analysis from a mixture ofthese two minerals, even when it is known that both are present; and incase the presence of coloradoite was not suspected, and not tested for, it
would of course be quite overlooked. I t is therefore highly probablethat the mercury shown in the analyses o f ' kalgoorlite' a n d ' coolgardite'
was due to the presence of coloradoite.
Even a study of the original papers themselves suggests that'kalgoorlite' and 'coolgardite' cannot be distinct mineral species.
A massive mineral, which in a single analysis gives, like ' kalgoorlite,'an unusual and complex formula, has, in most cases, little claim to rank
as a distinct species, and absolutely none when its composition can bejust as well, or even better, explained on the assumption that the material
analysed was a mixture of known minerals. Mineralogical literature isunfortunately heavily burdened with numerous imperfectly and incompletely determined ' new species' of this kind.
The formula of ' kalgoorlite' may be split up as follows : - HgAu2Ag~Tes = HgTe + 2Ag3AuT % + Te.
(' Kalgoorllte') (Coloradoite) (Petzite)
The atomic ratio, 3 : 1, of silver to gold is exactly that given by all
analyses of petzite. The excess of tellurium scarcely needs explanation,
since this element was not determined directly in the analysis, but only
by difference.
The wide variations in the three analyses of 'coolgardite' are in themselves enough to suggest that the material analysed was not homogeneous ;MINERALOGICALNOTESON W E S T E R N

AUSTRALIANTELLURIDES.

285

and this impression is amply supported by the brief description Professor
Carnot gives of tile external characters of ]]is material. As pointed
out above (p. 273), the material used in three other of Carnot's analyses
was very probably not homogeneous, and in one case this is even admitted
by Carnot himself. A point which is perhaps in favour of the existenceof ~coolgardite' is the fact that the results obtained in three separate
analyses can, on the assumption of isomorphous mixing, be all made toagree more or less closely with one general formula: the calculated1
atomic ratios of (Au,Ag,Hg) : Te are 1 : 1.551, 1 : 1.483, and 1 : 1.610
in the three analyses respectively.
The empirical formulae corresponding to Carnot's analyses are : - (1)(2)(3)

HgAgloAuT.6T% s.
HgAg~.sAuT.6Te22.9.
HgAg2.4Aulo.2T%l.8.

These, by solving simultaneous equations, may be split up as follows : - (1) HgTe + 1.23Ag~AuT% + 0.07AuT% + 6.3AuAgT%.
(2) HgTe + 1.15Ag3AuT % + 3.1AuT% + 3.35AuAgTe 4.
(3) HgTe + 0.73Ag~AuT% + 9.27AuT% + 0.2AuAgTe r(Coloradoite) (Petzite)(Calaverite)(Sylvanite)
The third analysis would thus appear to have been made on material
consisting mainly of calaverite ; and this is in agreement with Carnot's
statement that the material was yellowish-grey with a conchoidal fracture.
In the first two analyses more of the iron-black tellurides and moresylvanite would be present, and in No. 1 practically no calaverite; this,again, is in agreement with Carnot's statement of the external charactersof the material, which he describes as varying in colour from iron-grey toyellowish-grey, and usually with a conchoidal fracture, but sometimes
a cleavage. Although not stated by Carnot, it would appear thatanalysis No. 2 was made on a yellower fragment. The difference ineolour is explained by Carnot as due to the difference in the relative
proportions of gold and silver shown in the analyses, but this is scarcely
likely to be the case. Of special importance is the fact that Carnot
made no serious attempt to separate the black from the yellow, for, as
he distinctly states in his paper, he simply took for each analysis
The small amounts of antimony, copper, and iron, calculated by Carnot with themetals, are here neglcctcd, as it seems doubtful whether the antimony should betaken with the tellurium or with the gold ; it is not unlikely that they are impurities
due to the presence of fahlcrz. The atomic weights used here and elsewhere in thepresent paper are those recommended in 1901 by the Atomic-Weight Commissionof
the German Chemical Society.

286

L.J. SPENCER ON(Nos. 1 aild 2) only o n e piece of material. It would be exlremely
unlikely, under the circumstances, for such material to be pure andall of one ldnd.
I have been informed by 3It. F. T. Trouton, the assistant curator of
the Western Australian exhibits at Paris, &c., that the material supplied
to Professor Carnot for analysis consisted of fragments which had become
detached from various specimens. I t is thus not unlikely that someof Carnot's material was actually from specimens now in the British~Iusenm. I have myself collected such a tube of fragments, which,owing to the extremely fl'iable nature of the tellurides, have become
detached during the transportation and handling of the specimens.
From such a collection of fragments of all kinds and from several
specimens it would not be at all easy to collect material suitable foranalysis. The sylvanite, if coarsely crystallized, could no doubt be easily
picked out, but not so easily ealaverite from eoloradoite and petzite;
these are sometimes associated together in the same fragment, and it
is only with difficulty that the actual junction of the calaverite with
the iron-black mineral can be detected, while the eoloradoite and petzite
are absolutely indistinguishable.
Although I have had some experience in collecting pure material for
analysis, I should be unwilling to deal with such a sample. On thisoccasion I have given (p. 9,76 above) more thlly the method I adopt forcollecting opaque nlinerals t tbr analysis. Whenever possible, however,
only crystals are taken, and these are broken up and each fragment
collected separately; and in cases where there can be any possible doubt
as to the identity of the mineral, every crystal or crystal fragment ismeasured on the goniometer. All this of course takes time, and thecollection of even less than a gram of material may mean several weeks'
work, but it is the only way by which errors are to be avoided. Even
with all care and precaution the materiM may be rendered impure by thepresence of an unsuspected mineral, as was midoubtedly the case witheoloradoite in 'kalgoorlite' and 'eoolgardite.' An exactly similar easehas occurred with the material collected by myself for analyses ofstannite 2. On the results of these analyses, especially together with theremarkable development of the crystals, there could have been baseda far more plausible ' n e w mineral' than either 'kalgoorlite' or'coolgardite.' The analytical results could, however, be explained one. g. andorite, argyrodite, fahlerz, plaglonib, &e., described in the pages of thisMagazine.
'~ This volume, p. 61.

MINERALOGICAL NOTES ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TELLURIDES. 2 8 7

the assumption that the material used was a mixture of stannite andandorite, and on again examining the part of the specimen from which
the material had been collected, this was amply confirmed.
With the object of testing whether these doubts as to the existence of'kalgoorlite' and 'coolgardite' have really any ground, I have madea detailed examination of all the British Museum specimens of Western
Australian tellurides. Although I have not had an opportunity of
examining the original material on which the names were based, yet, as
noted above, a large amount of the available material came from thesame source as did that examined by Professor Carnot, and, indeed,possibly from the same specimens.
Five specimens have at various times been received at the ~useum
labelled as 'kalgoorlite,' but on whose authority was not stated. On
none of these was anything found which answered (except in external
characters) to the description of 'kalgoorlite.' On two specimens the
only telluride to be found was coloradoite; on another calaveriteand coloradoite; on a fourth calaverite and petzite; while on one
specimen ealaverite, coloradoite, and petzite were all detected, but noother telluride.
The material was examined before the blowpipe in the manner
described above. When any mercury was given off in the bulb-tube themineral was in all cases completely decomposed with the formation of
metallic mercury and tellurous oxide; while, when no mercury was
given off in the tube, the same fragment afterwards gave a metallic
bead on charcoal. Numerous fragments when first heated on the
charcoal completely volatilized without leaving the slightest residue.
All these fragments were therefore either mercury telluride or goldand silver telluride, and none could have contained all three metals
as required by 'kalgoorlite' and 'coolgardite.' These tests, which arereliable and also quickly and readily performed, were made use of forthe purpose of distinguishing between the ir0n-black minerals withconehoidal fracture, namely, eoloradoite, petzite (and fahlerz), and also
to detect if possible the presence of any 'kalgoorlite' and 'coolgardite.'
The fragments tested were detached from the specimens by a needle,
and each examined under a lens; only quite small fragments showing theeonchoidal fracture uninterruptedly over the whole surface were selected.
I n this way 183 fragments ~ of the iron-black tellurides taken fromi This includes twenty-one fragments examined to test the purity of the material
collected for the qualitative analyses of coloraxloite. Of the 112 fragments taken at

haphazard, thirty-four were petzite and seventy-eight coloradoite; this gives an ideaof the relative frequency of occurrence of these two tellurides.

2~8

L.J.

SPENCERON

different portions of thirty-five specimens were separately examined ; ofthese, thirty-four were found to be petzite and the remainder coloradoite.
In addition to these, about thirty fragments of calaverite and sylvanite
were examined before the blowpipe. On the forty-eight specimens
examined, more than one kind of telluride was found on twenty-five;calaverlte and coloradoite were found together on seventeen, and petzite
and coloradoite on seven (see table, p. 279).
Petzite and eoloradoite being indistinguishable in external appearance,
it is possible to take fragments in which both these tellurides are present,
and which are to all appearance homogeneous; such fragments will ofcourse be found to contain gold, silver, and mercury, and will thusanswer perfectly to the description of 'kalgoorlite.' On these'larger
fragments, however, the conehoidal fracture was not continuous over thewhole surface, indicating tb'tt the fragment consisted of more than one
crystalline individual of the same kind of mineral, or even (as is actually
the case) of different minerals. When, however, small fragments witha continuous conchoida] fracture were taken they were found in every
case to be either coloradoite or petzite, containing either no gold or no
mercury.
After this fairly exhaustive search for 'kalgoorlite,' one is perfectly
justified in assuming that no such mineral exists, especially when the
single analysis on which the name is based can be simply exphdned by
the intermixture of the two minerals, petzite and coloradoite, which inexternal appearance are indistinguishable, and which have been shownto actually occur intimately associated together at Kalgoorlie.
While the cause of the error in the case of 'kalgoorlite' is readily
explained, it is less easy to believe that such an error could have beencommitted in the case of ' coolgardite' ; for there are m~trked diflL'rencesin the external characters of the iron-black tellurides (petzite andcoloradoite) and the light-colom'ed tellurides (calaverite and sylvanite),
which nmst have been present in the mixtures analysed. Professor
Carnot indeed notices these differences, but makes no mention of thepossibility of the material heing a mixture.
There appears to be little to support Professor Carnot's supposition
that mercury is capable of isomorphously replacing gold and silver,
beyond the fact that these metals, like so many others, crystallize in the
cubic system. And it might be suggested that ' coolgardite' is a mixture of eoloradoite and a hitherto unknown sesquitelluride of gel d andsilver, (Au,Ag)~,T%, as given hy Carnot's formula.

The ratio (Au,Ag): Te

is then 1 : 1.640, 1 : 1.586, and 1 : 1-739 in the three analyses respectively.

MINERALOGICAL NOTES ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TELLURIDES. 289

The excess over 1 : 1.5 could then be readily explained by the admixtureof small amounts of the known tellurides, calaverite and sylvanite. Thisview receives some .support from the fact that, on the assumption of a
mixture of known tetlurides as here adopted, there must have been four
different tellurides present in the material used for analysis No. 2 1. On
none of the British ]~fuseum specimens were more than three different
kinds of tellurides found associated together, and it thus seems unlikely,
but not impossible, that there should have been three or four kinds ina single fragment such as is stated by Carnot to have been used in two(Nos. 1 and 2) of his analyses. On the other hand, if several fragmentsfrom the miscellaneous sample had been used for analysis, as may havebeen the case in analysis No, 3, there is less objection to the assumptionof a mixture of four different tellurides. Again, in the mixtures suggested
above, the amount of sylvanite seems to be excessive ; this, however,would be less if the calaverite were assumed to contain some silver, or if
hessite be present (cf. pp. 274, 282). The probable existence of an
intimate mixture of sylvanite and petzite has been noted above (foot of
p. 275).
There thus appears, on the whole, to be no more evidence for the
existence of a mineral having the composition (Au,Ag)~Tes than forminerals with the compositions (Au,Ag)~T% and (Au,Ag),Tos (seep. 273); and it seems best, for the present at least, to assume that in allthese cases the material used for analysis consisted of mixtures of known
tellurides.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
In this list are given only those papers, dealing with the telluridesof Kalgoorlie, which contain original information of a mineralogicalcharacter, to the exclusion of the numerous papers, articles, and official
reports which have been written on the general occurrence, geologicalrelations, mining, metallurgy, &c., of the telluride-ores.
CARD, G.W. Notes on the country rock of the Kalgoorlie gold-field,with a bibliography. Records Geol. Survey, New South Wales, 1898, vol, vi, pp. 17-42.
CARZqOT,A. Sur les tellurures d'or et d'argent de la r6gion de Kalgoorlie (Australie
occidentale). Comptesrcndus Acad. Sci. Paris, 1901, vol. cxxxii, pp. 1298-1302;
Bull. See. fran% Min., 1901, vol. xxiv, pp. 357-67 [not pp. 273-83] ; Ann. desMines, 1901, sgr. 9, vol. xix, pp. 530-40. [In the last two places details are
given of the method of analysis.]
The small amount of calaverite in No. 1 is negligible; and in No. 3 there would
be no sylvanite if the calaverite containedeven a ~ittle silver.
u

290

L. S. SPENCER ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TELLURIDES.

FR~I~ZE:5, A. Sylvanit yon Kalgoorlie. Tsel~ermak's Min. Mirth., 1897, vol. xvil,
pp. 288-9.
HO~]~oYD~ A. G. The discovery and occurrence of telluride of gold upon the
Kalgeorlic goldfields, East Coolgardie District, Western Australia. Trans.
Austr. Inst. Mining Engineers, 1897, vol. iv, pp. 186-93. [The first announcemerit was made in the ' Kalgoorlie Miner ' of May 29, 1896.~
KRUSCH, P. Ueber einlge Tellurgoldsilberverbindungen yon den westaustralisehen
Goldg~ngen. Centralblatt Min., 1901, pp. 199-202. CIn part also, supplemented
with a general account compiled from other authors, in Die Tellurerze Wes~
austra]iens. Zelts. prakt. Geol., 1901, pp. 211-7.]
MAcIvo~, R. W. E . On native tellurium from the Hannah's District, Western
Australia. Chem. News, 1900, vol. lxxxii, p. 272.
On certain tellurium minerals, and the action of sulphur monoehloride
thereon. Chem. News, 1902, voh lxxxvi, p. 308.
Pz~.I~cz, R. Notes on a peculiar occurrence of tellurium in a gold ore from theGreat Boulder Reef, Western Australia. Proc. Colorado Sei. Soc., 1897-1900,
vol. vl, p. 69. (Read October 2, 1897.)
PI~A~, E.F.
Kalgooriite--a new teUuride mineral from Western Australia.
Reeol~ls Geol. Survey, New South Wales, 1898, vol. v, pp. 203--4; Australian
Mining Standard, 1898, voh xiil, p. 2669.
~ - Notes on the geology and mineral deposits of portions of Western Australia.
Records Geol. Survey, N.S.W., 1898, vol. vi, pp. 1-17; Austr. Mining Stand.,
1898, vol. xiil, pp. 2638-9, 2674-5.
RIc]~.~D, T.A. The minerals which accompany gold, and their bearing upon therichness of ore deposits. Trans. Inst. Mining and Metallurgy, 1898, vol. vl,
pp. 194-211; Engineering and Mining Journ., New York, 1898, vol. lxv, pp. 494-5.
The tellurlde-oros of Cripple Creek and Kalgoorlie. Trans. Amer. Inst.
Mining Engineers, 1901, vol. xxx, pp. 708-18; Australian Mining Standard,
1901, vol. xlx, pp. 153, 190.
SC~r~EISSER, K., and VOO~.LSA~O, K. Die Goldfelder Australaslens. Berlin, 1897.
English translation by H. Louis, London, 1898.
Sx~Pso~, E.S. Native tellurides of gold. Mineralogical and petrographical notes.
Ann. Progress Rep. Geol. Survey, Western Australia, for 1897, 1898, pp. 44-8.
Mineralogical and petrographical notes. Ibid. for 1898, 1899, pp. 57-9.
Census of minerals of Western Australia. Bull. Geol. Survey, Westel~
Australia, 1900, No. 4, pp. 14~-9.
Notes from the Departmental Laboratory. Ibld., 1902, No. 6, pp. 1-89.