The mineralogy of Silver

General Properties
Symbol:	Ag
Commodity pages:	Silver
Atomic Number:	47
Standard atomic weight (A_r):	107.8682(2)
Electron configuration:	[Kr] 4d¹⁰ 5s¹

Photos

<	Native Silver - Ag	>

Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):	1.93
Atomic Radius:	165 pm
Ionic Radius:	115 pm (+1)
Van der Waals Radius:	172 pm
1st Ionization energy:	731 kJ/mol
1st Electron affinity:	-126 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:	1,2,3

Physical Properties
Standard State:	solid
Bonding Type:	metallic
Melting Point:	1235 K
Boiling Point:	2435 K
Density:	10.49 g/cm³
Metal/Non-Metal:	transition metal

Main isotopes of Silver
Isotope	% in Nature	Half Life	Decay type	Decay product
¹⁰⁵Ag	synthetic	41.2d	ε	¹⁰⁵Pd
^106mAg	synthetic	8.28d	ε	¹⁰⁶Pd
¹⁰⁷Ag	51.839%	-	Spontaneous fission ?
^108mAg	synthetic	418y	ε	¹⁰⁸Pd
^108mAg	synthetic	418y	Isomeric transition	¹⁰⁸Ag
¹⁰⁹Ag	48.161%	-	Spontaneous fission ?
¹¹¹Ag	synthetic	7.45d	β−	¹¹¹Cd

Main ions of Silver
Name	Ion	Example minerals
silver(I)	Ag⁺	Acanthite, Chlorargyrite

Other Information
Year Discovered:	before 5000 BC
Named For:	Greek: árguros - "grey" or "shining"
CPK color coding:	#C0C0C0
External Links:	Wikipedia WebElements Los Alamos National Laboratory Theodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com

Simple Compounds and Mineral Names
Sulfides	disilver sulphide	Ag₂S	+1	Acanthite
Selenides	disilver selenide	Ag₂Se	+1	Naumannite
Tellurides	disilver telluride	Ag₂Te	+1	Hessite
Fluorides	silver fluoride	AgF	+1
	silver difluoride	AgF₂	+2
	silver subfluoride	Ag₂F	+0,+1
Chlorides	silver chloride	AgCl	+1	Chlorargyrite
Bromides	silver bromide	AgBr	+1	Bromargyrite
Iodides	silver iodide	AgI	+1	Iodargyrite
Oxides	silver oxide	AgO	+1,+3
Oxides	disilver oxide	Ag₂O	+1

Mineral Diversity of Silver
1. Elements	8 valid mineral species
2. Sulfides And Sulfosalts	203 valid mineral species
3. Halides	7 valid mineral species
4. Oxides	2 valid mineral species
7. Sulfates	1 valid mineral species
8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates	3 valid mineral species
Total:	224 valid species containing essential Silver

Minerals with the greatest weight % of Silver
Schachnerite	Ag_1.1Hg_0.9	100.00 %
Native Silver	Ag	100.00 %
Acanthite	Ag₂S	87.06 %
Aguilarite	Ag₄SeS	79.53 %
Argentopearceite	[Ag₆As₂S₇][Ag₉AgS₄]	77.45 %
Argyrodite	Ag₈GeS₆	76.50 %
Spryite	Ag₈(As³⁺_0.5As⁵⁺_0.5)S₆	76.35 %
Chlorargyrite	AgCl	75.26 %
Eugenite	Ag₁₁Hg₂	74.73 %
Argentopolybasite	[Ag₆Sb₂S₇][Ag₉AgS₄]	74.32 %

Geochemistry of Silver
Goldschmidt classification:	Chalcophile

Elemental Abundance for Silver
Crust (CRC Handbook)	7.5 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Kaye & Laby)	8 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Greenwood)	8 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)	8.0 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Wänke)	6.95 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)	5.0 x 10^-8	mass fraction, kg/kg
Sea Water (CRC Handbook)	4 x 10^-11	mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Sea Water (Kaye & Laby)	2.8 x 10^-10	mass per volume fraction, kg/L
The Sun (Kaye & Laby)	2.0 x 10^-7	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Kaye & Laby)	4.9 x 10^-7	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Ahrens)	4.86 x 10^-7 (2.9%)	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty)

Element association of Silver in the Mineral World
This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Silver and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements. The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Silver and the element listed for that row. The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Silver. The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row. Click on a heading to sort.

Element	Valid Minerals listed with element and Silver	% of Ag minerals	Relative to % in all minerals
Sulfur	189 minerals with Ag and S	77.14%	250.25% higher
Antimony	92 minerals with Ag and Sb	37.55%	555.78% higher
Lead	91 minerals with Ag and Pb	37.14%	244.54% higher
Copper	71 minerals with Ag and Cu	28.98%	114.16% higher
Arsenic	71 minerals with Ag and As	28.98%	123.13% higher
Bismuth	42 minerals with Ag and Bi	17.14%	309.07% higher
Tellurium	30 minerals with Ag and Te	12.24%	243.30% higher
Mercury	26 minerals with Ag and Hg	10.61%	492.39% higher
Iron	25 minerals with Ag and Fe	10.20%	54.33% lower
Thallium	21 minerals with Ag and Tl	8.57%	476.22% higher
Selenium	17 minerals with Ag and Se	6.94%	158.22% higher
Gold	16 minerals with Ag and Au	6.53%	849.52% higher
Zinc	12 minerals with Ag and Zn	4.90%	12.26% lower
Oxygen	10 minerals with Ag and O	4.08%	94.97% lower
Chlorine	9 minerals with Ag and Cl	3.67%	49.96% lower
Palladium	9 minerals with Ag and Pd	3.67%	160.98% higher
Manganese	8 minerals with Ag and Mn	3.27%	72.00% lower
Tin	8 minerals with Ag and Sn	3.27%	79.08% higher
Hydrogen	5 minerals with Ag and H	2.04%	96.33% lower
Iodine	5 minerals with Ag and I	2.04%	286.64% higher
Germanium	4 minerals with Ag and Ge	1.63%	131.99% higher
Cadmium	3 minerals with Ag and Cd	1.22%	125.16% higher
Indium	3 minerals with Ag and In	1.22%	350.32% higher
Bromine	2 minerals with Ag and Br	0.82%	183.54% higher
Fluorine	1 mineral with Ag and F	0.41%	94.81% lower
Potassium	1 mineral with Ag and K	0.41%	95.86% lower
Vanadium	1 mineral with Ag and V	0.41%	91.52% lower
Nickel	1 mineral with Ag and Ni	0.41%	87.85% lower

Periodic Table

2He

3Li

4Be

Show/hide current element

Default Categories CPK Electronegativity Atomic Radius Lowest Oxidation Highest Oxidation Crustal Abundance Goldschmidt Mineral Species Minerals with Ag Relative Frequency

Palladium << Silver >> Cadmium

Most widespread minerals containing Silver
This list of minerals containing Silver is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Silver mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.

Most widespread minerals containing Silver

This list of minerals containing Silver is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Silver mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.

Name	Formula	Crystal System	Mindat Localities
Native Silver	Ag	Isometric	6358
Acanthite	Ag₂S	Monoclinic	3863
Pyrargyrite	Ag₃SbS₃	Trigonal	1870
Chlorargyrite	AgCl	Isometric	1818
Hessite	Ag₂Te	Monoclinic	1288
Polybasite	[Ag₆Sb₂S₇][Ag₉CuS₄]	Monoclinic	1026
Proustite	Ag₃AsS₃	Trigonal	947
Stephanite	Ag₅SbS₄	Orthorhombic	809
Petzite	Ag₃AuTe₂	Isometric	627
Stromeyerite	AgCuS	Orthorhombic	468

Photos
Native Silver Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany Acanthite Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico Pyrargyrite Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Chlorargyrite Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA Native Silver Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany Acanthite Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico Pyrargyrite Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Chlorargyrite Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA Native Silver Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany Acanthite Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico Pyrargyrite Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Chlorargyrite Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA

Photos

Native Silver

Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany

Acanthite

Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico

Pyrargyrite

Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Chlorargyrite

Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA

Native Silver

Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany

Acanthite

Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico

Pyrargyrite

Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Chlorargyrite

Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA

Native Silver

Adit no. 7, Oberpfannenstiel, Lauter-Bernsbach, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany

Acanthite

Chispas Mine, Arizpe, Arizpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico

Pyrargyrite

Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Chlorargyrite

Reward Mine, Kohatk, Vekol Mining District, Vekol Mountains, Pinal County, Arizona, USA

Localities with greatest number of different Silver mineral species

1	Lengenbach Quarry, Fäld, Binn, Goms, Valais, Switzerland	35 Ag minerals
2	Kremnica Au-Ag deposit, Kremnica, Žiar nad Hronom District, Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia	32 Ag minerals
3	Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany	31 Ag minerals
4	Uchucchacua Mine, Uchucchacua area, Oyón District, Oyón Province, Lima, Peru	26 Ag minerals
5	Săcărâmb, Certeju de Sus, Hunedoara County, Romania	25 Ag minerals
6	Vorontsovskoe deposit (Vorontsovsk gold deposit; Vorontsovka deposit), Tur'insk, Turya river, Serovsky District, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia	25 Ag minerals
	Oselské pásmo Lode, Kutná Hora District, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic	25 Ag minerals
8	Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona, USA	23 Ag minerals

Important ores of Silver

Name	Formula	Crystal System
Galena	PbS	Isometric
Native Silver	Ag	Isometric
Acanthite	Ag₂S	Monoclinic

Photos
Galena Indian Creek Mine, Indian Creek Subdistrict, Ebo, Washington County, Missouri, USA Native Silver San Martín Mine, San Martín-Sabinas District, San Martín, Sombrerete Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico Acanthite Freiberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany Galena, etc. Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA Galena Indian Creek Mine, Indian Creek Subdistrict, Ebo, Washington County, Missouri, USA Native Silver San Martín Mine, San Martín-Sabinas District, San Martín, Sombrerete Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico Acanthite Freiberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany Galena, etc. Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA Galena Indian Creek Mine, Indian Creek Subdistrict, Ebo, Washington County, Missouri, USA Native Silver San Martín Mine, San Martín-Sabinas District, San Martín, Sombrerete Municipality, Zacatecas, Mexico Acanthite Freiberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany Galena, etc. Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA

Photos