Canfieldite is a rare silver tin sulfide mineral with formula: Ag₈SnS₆. The mineral typically contains variable amounts of germanium substitution in the tin site and tellurium in the sulfur site. There is a complete series between canfieldite and its germanium analogue, argyrodite. It forms black orthorhombic crystals which often appear to be cubic in form due to twinning. The most typical form is as botryoidal rounded grape like masses. Its Mohs hardness is 2.5 and the specific gravity is 6.28. Canfieldite exhibits conchoidal fracturing and no cleavage. General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tin, Sn, 50 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 118. ... In chemistry, a sulfide (sulphide in British) is a chemical compound or combination of sulfur with an oxidation number of -2, with another chemical element or a radical thereof. ... General Name, Symbol, Number germanium, Ge, 32 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 4, p Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 72. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tellurium, Te, 52 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 16, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 127. ... Argyrodite, silver germanium sulfide Ag8GeS6 is relatively scarce mineral. ... In crystallography, the orthorhombic crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. ... A twin boundary occurs when two crystals of the same type intergrow, so that only a slight misorientation exists between them. ... Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer. ... Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ... Cleavage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types: Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. ...

Canfieldite was first described in 1893 from an occurrence in Colquechaca, Potosí Department, Bolivia. It was named for Frederick Alexander Canfield (1849-1926) an American mining engineer. Potosí is a city, the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. ...

References

• Mindat with location data
• Webmineral data