[5]: 93 Frohbergite was first identified by Thompson in 1947 in the telluride-rich portion of the Robb-Montbray Mine in Quebec, Canada,[6] which was then considered the only known occurrence of the mineral for nearly three decades.

[5]: 93 Frohbergite was found in polished sections as a rim up to 15 μ wide around chalcopyrite at the contact with altaite (PbTe), native gold and melonite.

[5]: 93 The mineral was named in honor of the Canadian geologist and mineralogist of German origin, Dr. Max Hans Frohberg (1901–1970, Toronto, Canada).

[8]: 220 According to another classification proposed in the 1970s by the Bulgarian mineralogist Ivan Kostov, plumbotellurides of gold, copper, iron and silver (Au—Сu—Fe—Ag) were assigned to the bilibinskite group, as the most common mineral.

[7]: 20 Hydrochloric acid, potassium cyanide, iron trichloride, caustic potash and corrosive sublimate do not act on polished frohbergite.

Frohbergite differs from the latter in its increased reflectivity and significantly lower saturation of the color tone, in which the bluish component noticeably predominates.

In particular, at the Robb Montbray type deposit, frohbergite was found in thin sections together with altaite, tellurobismuthite, montbrayite, melonite and petzite.

Frohbergite segregations were observed mainly in the form of a thin, sometimes discontinuous, reaction rim surrounding chalcopyrite inclusions in tellurides.