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Formula: Cu1-xAsx (x ~ 0.15)
Arsenide
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 8.38 measured, 8.72 calculated
Hardness: 4
Colour: Steel-grey to silver-white, tarnishes dull on exposure
Common impurities: Ag
Environments:
Algodonite occurs in hydrothermal deposits intimately associated with other
copper arsenides. Common
associates include copper (typically
arsenic-rich),
silver, domeykite and
koutekite
(HOM, Mindat).
Localities
At the Cashin mine, Montrose county, Colorado, USA, novákite is associated with
algodonite,
koutekite, djurleite and
domeykite
(HOM).
At Painsdale, Michigan, USA, copper arsenide specimens have been found to contain crystals of algodonite. Many
crystals occur as parallel overgrowths on ill-formed crystals of arsenic-rich
copper. The masses of arsenides in which
the algodonite occurs are rich in copper near the matrix, and the
arsenic content appears to increase
in the centres of the masses. The good crystals line pockets in the arsenides; algodonite is interstitial to
quartz and calcite and so does not form
well developed crystals in the matrix
(AM 48.421-422).
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