Home > American Minerals IV – August 26 > MS1639 blister copper Chalcopyrite
blister copper Chalcopyrite - Sold
- Flambeau mine
- Ladysmith
- Rusk County
- Wisconsin
- U.S.A.
- 5.0 by 4.6 by 3.3 cm – Miniature specimen (fits into a 5 cm cube)
Chalcopyrite is a copper iron sulfide. The mineral name combines Greek root chalco for copper with the mineral name pyrite. German mining engineer Johann Henckel (1678-1744) coined the mineral name in his 1725 Pyritologia.
Chalcopyrite here forms a botryoidal crust, with spheroids to 7 mm, on fragmented quartz matrix. While not typical of the mineral, botryoidal chalcopyrite has occurrences worldwide. Miners call such ore blister copper. This particular example is vividly iridescent blue-purple. From material collected by Casey Jones during a commercial specimen recovery effort (Jones & Jones, 1997); Jones also described the collecting for mindat.org.
