Imiterite - Encyclopedia

Class : Sulfides and sulfosalts
Subclass : Sulfides
Crystal system : Monoclinic
Chemistry : Ag₂HgS₂
Rarity : Very rare

Imiterite is a rare mercury and silver sulfide which was discovered in the early 1980's in the Imiter deposit, in the Jebel Sarho Massif (Morocco), a deposit which also gave it its name. This locality, famous for its spectacular native silver plates, is made up of a network of sulphide stringers cutting formations of Precambrian age. Pyrite is dominant there, accompanied by numerous sulphides including abundant silver sulfides : acanthite, polybasite. Imitite appears in xenomorphic areas reaching 1 mm and more rarely in extremely fine crystals reaching 3 mm of a light gray to dark gray color sometimes associated with cinnabar.

Main photo : Imiterite of Imiter, Tinghir Cercle, Drâa-Tafilalet Region, Morocco © Christian Rewitzer

V-twinned imiterite from Imiter, Morocco © Stephan Wolfsried

Imiterite and cinnabar from San Giovanni Mine, Sardinia, Italy © Italo Campostrini

Imiterite from Imiter, Morocco © Carsten Slotta

Imiterite in cyclic twin from Imiter, Morocco © Jean-Marc Johannet

Imiterite in the World

Imiter (Morocco) has long been the only known deposit of this mineral, but it has also been reported in millimeter crystals at the San Giovanni mine (Sardinia, Italy). It is known in Jamestown (California), but also in Montana and Alaska, in several Russian localities, in Germany, etc...

Imiterite in France

Imiterite is not present in the French underground.

Twinning

V-shaped and cyclic star twins are known.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes recorded for this mineral species.

Hardness : 2.5 to 3
Density : 7.84
Fracture : Undeterminated
Streak : Undeterminated

TP : Opaque
RI : -
Birefringence : -
Optical character : -
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : -

Magnetism : NoneRadioactivity : None