Tellurium speciation under hydrothermal conditions

Tellurium is the only element which forms a variety of minerals with gold as principal component (e.g. calaverite AuTe2, krennerite (AuAg)Te2, petzite Ag3AuTe2 and sylvanite AgAuTe4). These minerals have been known for a long time and are of economic value in many deposits such as Cripple Creek (Colorado), Emperor (Fiji), and Săcărîmb (Romania), and “orogenic” gold deposits, including the giant Golden Mile deposit (Western Australia). However, knowledge the formation of these minerals is still incomplete.