Silver Ores

Almost all of the silver that is produced these days is from four main ores, which are: argentite, cerargyrite, bromyrite, and pyrargyrite. Miners have named argentite silver glance and it is the ore that is most commonly found. It has a crystalline structure but it is normally located in big a mass that has little crystal looking pieces in it. It has a dark lead gray color to it and will dull to a dark black color. This is very rich in silver. It has a metallic luster, a hardness of 2 to 2.5 and a specific gravity of 7.3. Bromyrite and cerargyrite are different because only bromyrite has around twenty five to forty percent bromine and cerargyrite has around the equal percentage of chlorine in their chemical make up while the rest is made up of silver. These minerals have been nicknamed horn silver since it can be cut with a knife. In its natural form it has a colorless to gray color. When they have been exposed to light, horn silver will turn from dark to a violet brown color that will also make them easy to identify. These have an adamantine luster to them, a hardness of 1 to 1.5 and a specific gravity of 5.5. Pyrargyrite can additionally be found in low temperature veins and often times crystallized. Pyrargyrite usually has a deep red to almost black color and has a lot of antimony. It has an adamantine luster to it, has a hardness of 2.5, and a specific gravity of 5.8 to 5.9.