Andrei Ionut APOPEI^1,*, Gheorghe DAMIAN^1,2, Nicolae BUZGAR¹, Stanislava MILOVSKA³ & Andrei BUZATU^1
1“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Department of Geology, 20A Carol I Blv., 700505 Iaşi, Romania, *e-mail: andrei_ionut1987@yahoo.com
²Tech Univ Cluj Napoca, North University Center of Baia Mare, 62A Dr. Victor Babeş Street, 430083 Baia Mare, Romania.
³Geological Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Severná 5, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

NEW OCCURENCES OF HESSITE, PETZITE AND STÜTZITE AT CORANDA-HONDOL OPEN PIT (CERTEJ GOLD-SILVER DEPOSIT, ROMANIA)

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Au-Ag- and Ag-tellurides are widely abundant in the vast majority of the “Golden Quadrilateral” (Metaliferi Mts., Romania) ore deposits. Optical microscope observations, electron microprobe and μ-Raman analyses have been successfully carried out to identify Au-Ag-Te minerals from Coranda-Hondol open pit (part of Certej deposit, South Apuseni Mountains, in Romania). The identified tellurides are hessite (Ag2Te), petzite (Ag3AuTe2) and stützite (Ag5-xTe3, where x = 0.24-0.36) and they usually occur as patches (reaching 90-100 μm in length) in galena, bournonite-seligmannite or at the contact between the last three minerals. In general, all the microanalytical data are stoichiometric with a slightly compositional variation in the case of hessite. The μ-Raman spectrum of stützite shows a characteristic Raman fingerprint with a very strong band at 147 cm^-1. The broadness of the Raman band (147 cm^-1) indicates a non-homogeneous distribution and, in conjunction with the strong heterogeneity observed under microscope, it suggests that the tellurides have formed contemporaneously and they can possibly be attributed to a later silver-rich telluride-bearing substage.