Editorial Feature

Bogdanovite – Occurrence, Properties, and Distribution

May 12 2014

Bogdanovite was named after Aleksei Alekseevich Bogdanov (1907–1971), a Soviet geologist at Moscow University in Moscow, Russia.

Properties of Bogdanovite

The following are the key properties of bogdanovite:

Cell Data
- Space group: Pm3m
- a = 4.0876(15)
- Z = 1

Crystal Data
- Cubic
- Point group: 4/m 3 2/m
- In radial crystal aggregates, to 1mm; massive
- X-ray powder pattern: 2.36 (100), 1.230 (80), 2.045 (60), 1.447 (60), 1.180 (30), 1.092 (25), 0.992 (15)

Chemical Composition

Elements	Content 1
Au	61.8
Pb	13.1
Cu	11.2
Te	10.2
Ag	3.39
Fe	1.18
Total	100.87

Optical Properties
- R1–R2: (400) - (420) 11.8–15.8, (440) 10.5–15.2, (460) 9.2–14.8, (480) 8.0–14.8, (500) 6.9–16.9, (520) 6.2–22.5, (540) 5.6–29.5, (560) 6.1–34.5, (580) 8.4–37.6, (600) 13.5–39.2, (620) 21.0–40.0, (640) 29.5–39.8, (660) 36.2–39.0, (680) 41.2–37.7, (700) 44.9–35.7

Estimated Properties

Electron density	Bulk density (electron density) = 11.7 g/cm³ note: Specific gravity of bogdanovite = 14.4 g/cm³
Photoelectric	PE_Bogdanovite = 1,301.89 barns/electron U=PE_Bogdanovite x ρ electron density= 15244.64 barns/cm³
Fermion index	Fermion index = 0.09 Boson index = 0.91
Radioactivity	Bogdanovite is not radioactive

How to Identify Bogdanovite

Bogdanovite can be identified in the field by its color variations, such as brown, bronze-brown and bluish-black. Its opaque form has no cleavage. This mineral has a sub-metallic luster. The hardness of bogdanovite is 4 - 4.5 - between fluorite and apatite.

Global Distribution

Bogdanovite is distributed in the following places:

Russia - From the Aginsk gold telluride deposit, Kamchatka, Far Eastern Region
Kazakhstan - At the Southern Dzhelambet deposit, central Kazakhstan
USA - From Bisbee, Cochise Co. Arizona

Occurrence of Bogdanovite and Useful Mineral Association

Bogdanovite occurs in the oxidation zone of Au–Te deposits. It is often associated with minerals such as gold, bilibinskite, bezsmertnovite, belyakinite, and tellurides of Fe, Cu, Pb.