Amalgam

(Ag,Hg)
Also known as
  • Colombianit
  • Colombianita
  • Mercure Argental
  • +6 more
Variety of
Native Silver
Native SilverAg

Where it forms, where it's found

73recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Safety & handling

Physical

Hardness
123456789103 – 3.5/ 10 MOHS
  1. 1Talc
  2. 2Gypsum
  3. 3Calcite
  4. 4Fluorite
  5. 5Apatite
  6. 6Orthoclase
  7. 7Quartz
  8. 8Topaz
  9. 9Corundum
  10. 10Diamond

Optical

Optical type
Isotropic
Isotropy testPPL ↔ XPL diagnostic
PPL intrinsic colour; no change on stage rotation
XPL extinct at every orientation

Crystallography

Crystal system
Isometric

Chemical composition

Constituent elements
Mass composition breakdown
ElementAtoms At. mass g/mol Mass g/molMass share
80HgMercuryMercury1200.592200.592
65.03%
47AgSilverSilver1107.868107.868
34.97%
Total308.460100.00%

Mass share = atoms × atomic mass ÷ molar mass × 100

From Mindat formula

Synonyms

  • Colombianit
  • Colombianita
  • Mercure Argental
  • Mercurial Silver
  • Mercurian Silver
  • Native Amalgam
  • Pella Natural
  • Silberamalgam
  • Silver Amalgam

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 1795Klaproth, M. H. (1795) IX. Untersuchung der Silbererze, Silberamalgam. In Beiträge zur chemischen Kenntniss der Mineralkörper Vol. 1. Rottmann. p.182
  2. 1996Baren, M. R. (1996) The Ag-Hg (Silver-Mercury) system. Journal of Phase Equilibria, 17 (2) 122-128 doi:10.1007/bf02665787DOI: 10.1007/bf02665787
  3. 2024Inglezakis, V.J., Azat, S., Kinayat, N., Guney, A., Baimenova, Z., Tauanov, Z. (2024) Direct Ag-Hg amalgamation in the nanoscale on the surface of biosourced amorphous silica. Journal of Environmental Management, 371. 123269 doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123269DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123269
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Amalgam — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/amalgam-181},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}