Native silver
2022-07-06 18:27:50
Native silver is a silver mineral without being smelted. The most common isomorphic substitutions are gold, mercury, Bi, Pt, CuAs, Sb, etc., which belong to isometric system and hexagonal crystal systems. Euhedral crystals are rare and usually appear as irregular granules, nuggets or dendritic aggregates.
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Native silver is mainly found in some low and medium-temperature hydrothermal mineral deposits. Its micro granules exist in the sulfides of Pb-Zn hydrothermal mineral deposits.
Native silver is enriched in the so-called Ni-Co-U-Bi-Ag carbonatite mineral deposits, coexisting with sulfide minerals of silver, native bismuth, pitchblendes and etc.
The largest native silver nugget, weighing 5,000 kilograms, was mined in 1875 at a depth of 300 meters below ground. Another flake of native silver weighing 1,420 kilograms was once found in Chile.
