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Formula: [Pb8Zn3Cu2+(OH)16](SO4)4.4H2O
Sulphate
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 5.032 calculated for the empirical formula, 4.986 calculated for the ideal formula
Hardness: 2½
Streak: Very pale bluish-white
Colour: Light blue
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under long wave or short wave UV
Solubility: In room-temperature dilute hydrochloric acid cuprocherokeeite immediately turns opaque and slowly
dissolves
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Cuprocherokeeite is a new mineral, approved in 2022 and to date (August 2023) reported only from the type
locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Redmond mine, Waterville Lake, Haywood County, North Carolina, USA, cuprocherokeeite and
cherokeeite were found underground. The ore, consisting
mainly of galena and sphalerite
with lesser chalcopyrite, occurs in an epithermal vein system consisting
of disconnected sulphide-bearing quartz lenses near the contact between a
granite gneiss and a
mica schist. Cuproherokeeite
and cherokeeite occur together in an unusual, localised,
secondary mineral assemblage in vugs in massive
galena - sphalerite -
chalcopyrite - quartz.
Cuprocherokeeite also occurs with chenite,
elyite and several other potentially new minerals.
Cuprocherokeeite crystals are short to long prisms or blades, up to about 1 mm in length, in subparallel to
divergent intergrowth
(CJMP 61.635–647).
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