Bezsmertnovite
An extremely rare gold-copper-lead telluride of the bilibinskite group, formed in the weathering zone of deposits.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Bezsmertnovite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the sulfide class, with the chemical formula (Au,Ag)₄Cu(Te,Pb).
It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system.
Key properties: specific gravity 16.3.
IMA symbol Bez, IMA status: approved, named in 1979.
Found in the cementation zone of a volcanogenic gold telluride deposit, rarely as rims around grains of gold.
It is found associated with Bilibinskite, bogdanovite, gold, tellurides of Cu, Fe and Pb.
The name refers to Dr. Marianna Sergeevna Bezsmertnaya (1914–1991), Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Rare Elements, Moscow, and Dr. Vladimir Vasil’evich Bezsmertnyi (1912–).