Home > Mexico I – December 15 > MS1677 Tenorite with Atacamite

Tenorite with Atacamite - Sold


Tenorite is simple copper(II) oxide, black in color. Semmola (1842) named tenorite after Michele Tenore (1781-1861), natural historian at the University of Naples. Tenorite is much less common than red copper(I) oxide, cuprite. Many so-called tenorite samples, those admixed with chrysocolla from Arizona, are simply chrysocolla with inclusions of black manganese oxides. In copper porphyry deposits, true tenorite often occurs in association with cuprite.

This is an interesting specimen of massive cuprite, one surface covered in microcrystalline tenorite. This identification relies on X-ray powder diffraction data. This find dates to 2009-2010. Minute crystals of green atacamite also present. This is a rare piece of properly identified tenorite from Mexico. Complete your Milpillas suite!