Home > Metallic Minerals – September 17 > MS1429 Luzonite

Luzonite - Sold


Luzonite is a copper arsenic sulfide, dimorphous with enargite. The mineral takes its name from Luzon Island in the Phillipines, where it was first found (Weisbach, 1874). Apparently the type material was massive, and showed the same chemistry as enargite. However its peculiar lack of cleavage led to its recognition as a separate species. Before X-ray diffraction, characterization of massive opaque minerals was quite difficult!

The Chinkuashih mine in Taiwan is widely regarded as the source for best of species luzonite. Professor Abe Rosenzweig collected this material in the mid 1960s while on sabbatical from the University of New Mexico. It came from the Penshan orebody. This piece has a continuous coverage of interlocking luzonite crystals to 4 mm. The crystal form is disphenoidal, which looks tetrahedral, but in this case crystals have a slight shortening along the 4 axis, so they are pseudo-tetrahedral. On pyrite infused quartz matrix. Please note this specimen has a saw cut along its side. Very good for the species!