Home > Copper Minerals II – September 8 > MS1122 Callaghanite
Callaghanite - Sold
- Basic Refractories mine
- Gabbs
- Nye County
- Nevada
- U.S.A.
- 2.6 by 2.0 by 0.8 cm – Thumbnail specimen (fits into a 2.5 cm cube)
Callaghanite is a copper magnesium carbonate, apparently known only from this occurrence in Nevada. Beck and Burns (1954) named the mineral after Dr. Eugene Callaghan (1904-1990), Director of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines who worked on magnesite deposits. Callaghanite forms cobalt blue microcrystals on serpentinite. Nice example with excellent crystallization.
This specimen was part of the personal collection of Ralph Merrill, proprietor of the prolific mail order business Minerals Unlimited. Merrill obtained this piece from Jack Parnau in 1954. Merrill's collection card and label ship with the specimen.