[te-truh-hee-drahyt] 
| a steel-gray or blackish mineral with a brilliant metallic luster, essentially copper and antimony sulfide, (Cu, Fe, Zn, Ag,)12 Sb4S13, an end member of a series of solid solutions into which arsenic enters to form tennantite: mined as an ore of copper and silver. |
| tet·ra·he·drite (tět'rə-hē'drīt') n. A grayish-black mineral, essentially (CuFe)12Sb4S13, often containing other elements, and used as an ore of copper. [German Tetraëdrit, from Greek tetraedros, four-faced (from its four-faced crystals); see tetrahedron.] |
tetrahedrite
common sulfosalt mineral, an antimony sulfide of copper, iron, zinc, and silver [(Cu,Fe,Zn,Ag)12Sb4S13], that is an important ore of copper and sometimes of silver. It forms gray to black metallic crystals or masses in metalliferous hydrothermal veins. Tetrahedrite forms a solid solution series with the similar mineral tennantite, in which arsenic replaces antimony in the molecular structure. It is found in important quantities in Switzerland, Germany, Romania, the Czech Republic, France, Peru, and Chile, and both minerals occur in large amounts in Colorado, Idaho, and other localities in the western United States. For detailed physical properties, see sulfosalt (table)
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