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Formula: Pb4CuZn2(AsO4)2(PO4)2(OH)2
Arsenate-phosphate,
dongchuanite group
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 5.91 calculated
Hardness: 2½ to 3
Colour: Apple-green to greenish blue
Environments
Cuprozheshengite is a new mineral, approved in 2021 and to date (September 2024) reported only from the
type localities.
Localities
There are two co-type localities, the Laochang ore field (Laochang Mine), Gejiu Sn-polymetallic ore field, Gejiu
City, Honghe, Yunnan, China, and the Dongchuan Cu Mine, Sanguozhuang, Dongchuan District, Kunming, also in Yunnan,
China.
At the type localities cuprozheshengite occurs as sub-millimeter greenish-blue hemispherical aggregates of
microscopic blade-like crystals
(AM 109.7.1248-1257).
The cuprozheshengite hemispheres are typically 0.3 to 1 mm in diameter and blades have lengths up to
0.2 mm but widths of only 10 to 50 μm. Cuprozheshengite occurs as a
supergene mineral in fractures from
copper sulphides along a regional redox boundary. Associated minerals include
theisite, as well as
hemimorphite,
veszelyite and
galena
(Mindat).
All four dongchuanite group minerals occur at the Dongchuan copper
mine. On the holotype specimen of cuprozheshengite, the cuprozheshengite is associated with
veszelyite and
galena. The new (in 2021) mineral
arsenoveszelyite also occurs in this assemblage. These minerals occur
in stratiform sediment-hosted copper deposits hosted within
Mesoproterozoic (1,600 to 1,000 million years ago) rocks
(AM 109.2174).
Cuprozheshengite from Sanguozhuang -
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