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.

Many of the characters being so similar to those of pyrargyrite they are mentioned under that species. The prismatic crystals are often terminated by the scalenohedron and the obtuse rhombohedron, thus resembling calcite (dog-tooth-spar) in habit. The color is scarlet-vermilion and the lustre 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.

The mode of occurrence is the same as that of pyrargyrite, and the two minerals are sometimes found together. Magnificent groups of large crystals have been found at Chañarcillo in Chile; other localities which have yielded fine specimens are Freiberg and Marienberg in Saxony, Joachimsthal in Bohemia and Markirch in Alsace.

[edit] See also

• List of minerals
• List of minerals named after people

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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