page_title: Proustite
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Proustite / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Packing diagram for proustite.
context_page_description: Proustite is a sulfosalt mineral consisting of silver sulfarsenide, Ag₃AsS₃, known also as light red silver or ruby silver ore, and an important source of the metal. It is closely allied to the corresponding sulfantimonide, pyrargyrite, from which it was distinguished by the chemical analyses of Joseph L. Proust in 1804, after whom the mineral received its name.
  The prismatic crystals are often terminated by the scalenohedron and the obtuse rhombohedron, thus resembling calcite in habit. The color is scarlet-vermilion and the luster adamantine; crystals are transparent and very brilliant, but on exposure to light they soon become dull black and opaque. The streak is scarlet, the hardness 2.5, and the specific gravity 5.57.
  Proustite occurs in hydrothermal deposits as a phase in the oxidized and supergene zone. It is associated with other silver minerals and sulfides such as native silver, native arsenic, xanthoconite, stephanite, acanthite, tetrahedrite and chlorargyrite.
caption: The structure of proustite can be viewed as the Ag+ derivative of [AsS3]3−.[4]
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