A new crystalline compounds of Au-Te in Sandaowanzi gold deposit, Heilongjiang Province

Compound Au2Te was found in auriferous quartz vein in Sandaowanzi gold deposit, Heilongjiang Province. The compound is round sphere(20~35μm), surrounded by calaverite “wrapper” (2.5μm) in the fracture of petzite. The round sphere sometimes exists independently, and sometimes several Au2Te spheres are linked together by calaverite fine vein from “wrapper”. The compound has weak anisotropy according to the observation under the reflecting microscope and boundary with surrounding minerals is clear. Within the sphere there may be smaller gold. The chemical composition range of the compound is (Au0.85Ag0.1)2Te1.00-(Au0.95Ag0.09)2Te1.00, the simplified is Au2Te, and its composition is stable. According to the results of XRD, the strong peaks are 2.3510，2.0730，2.9316，3.0191, and there are no such minerals by comparing with the data base. Therefore, Au2Te is a new Au-Te crystalline compound, probable a new kind of mineral. Au2Te derives likely from reaction of Au2Te and native gold.