Home > Type Localities II – October 30 > MS0809 Mackayite

Mackayite - Sold


Mackayite is an iron tellurate originally found at Goldfield, Nevada. Frondel and Pough (1944) named the mineral in honor of John William Mackay (1831-1902), mining business magnate at the Comstock Lode, who endowed the Mackay School of Mines at University of Nevada at Reno. Mackayite forms yellow green pseudo-octahedral crystals to 0.5 mm in a cavity in altered volcanic matrix. The mineral is tetragonal (pseudocubic). This specimen was part of the personal collection of Ralph Merrill, proprietor of the prolific mail order business Minerals Unlimited. Ralph Merrill obtained this specimen from John 'Jack' Parnau.