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Formula: Cu3.4Fe0.6Bi5S10
Sulphosalt,
cuprobismutite homologous series group,
bismuth-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 6.42 calculated
Hardness: 3 to 3½
Colour: Grey
Environments
Plutonic igneous environments
Pegmatites
Hydrothermal environments
Localities
At the type locality, the Western ore field, Mittersill Scheelite deposit, Mittersill, Zell am See District,
Salzburg, Austria, kupčíkite is found in a quartz
gangue, in association with
chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite,
molybdenite, sphalerite and
native bismuth, intergrown with
makovickyite,
cupromakovickyite,
hodrušite, cuprobismutite
and derivatives of the
aikinite-bismuthinite
series.
Kupčíkite is grey with a metallic lustre, brittle, and without cleavage. In typical intergrowths with
makovickyite or hodrušite,
kupčíkite shows sharp straight boundaries with both of these phases, but where in contact with derivatives of
the aikinite-bismuthinite
series, the latter replace kupčíkite. In a rare occurrence of kupčíkite with
cuprobismutite in the same aggregate, the
cuprobismutite is replaced by kupčíkite
(CM 41.5.1155-1166).
The kupčíkite occurs as elongated grains to 1 mm in length in sulphosalt-bearing
quartz veins, hosted by Paleozoic (538.8 to 251.9 million years ago)
amphibolite,
hornblendite and
granite gneiss
(Mindat).
At the Szklarska Poręba Huta granite quarry, Szklarska Poręba, Karkonosze County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, the
cuprobismutite homologues kupčíkite,
hodrušite, cuprobismutite
and a possible new homologue, and associated minerals occur in
pegmatite and voids of
granite.
The granite itself, as well as walls of the cavities, are in some
cases mineralised with wolframite,
scheelite and sulphides, mainly
pyrite, chalcopyrite and
molybdenite; the same minerals are found along with
bismuthinite and
native bismuth in thin quartz
veinlets, only a few mm in thickness, cutting the granite. Apart from
these minerals, others that occur leaa frequently in the assemblage include
emplectite and other
bismuth sulfides, such as aikinite,
friedrichite, krupkaite,
gladite and pekoite (all members
of the aikinite-bismuthinite
series), kupčíkite, hodrušite and
cuprobismutite (all members of the
cuprobismutite series),
galenobismutite,
cannizzarite, cosalite,
ikunolite, joséite-A, as well
as the supergene phases
bismite, bismutite,
powellite, koechlinite (?)
and russellite.
However, the
cuprobismutite homologues are directly
associated only with krupkaite ±
gladite ± pekoite +
bismuthinite ±
chalcopyrite ± native bismuth,
and occasionally with ikunolite and
joséite-A
(CM 50.313-324)..
At the Ni-Bi-As occurrence, Čierna Lehota, Bánovce nad Bebravou District, Trenčín Region, Slovakia,
kupčíkite is formed by the reaction of hodrušite with a
hydrothermal solution depositing bismuth-rich
tennantite and is associated with these two minerals
(HOM).
At the Rozália Mine, Hodruša-Hámre mines, Hodruša-Hámre, Žarnovica District, Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia, the
epithermal (low temperature) base-metal to precious-metal mineralisation is a part of the extensive system of
epithermal veins in the central part of the Štiavnica stratovolcano. The veins are zoned with
gold-silver, upper and lower
lead-zinc and
copper zones. The Rozália vein is one of the main base-metal ore veins. It
is hosted within propylitised
andesite and quartz
diorite porphyry,
and belongs to the copper zone. The
gangue minerals are mainly amethyst,
lesser amounts of carbonates, rhodonite,
hematite and baryte.
Bismuth minerals, bornite and
scheelite, as well as hematite,
are typical of the deeper part of the vein. Hodrušite,
emplectite and wittichenite,
together with hematite and
chalcopyrite, are the most common; in smaller amounts,
copper - lead -
bismuth sulphosalts of the
aikinite-bismuthinite
series, galena–matildite
solid solutions and a cuprobismutite-like mineral occur, as well as
the silver minerals polybasite
and silver-bearing tetrahedrite
(CM 50.325-340).
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