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Formula: Cu2+As3+2O4
Arsenite, minium group
Crystal System: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 4.8 measured, 4.49 calculated
Hardness: 4
Streak: Pale blue
Colour: Brilliant greenish-blue, pistachio-green; pale bluish green in transmitted light; with neon-blue internal
reflections
Solubility: Readily soluble in hydrochloric or nitric acid
Environments
Plutonic igneous environments
Hydrothermal environments
Localities
At the type locality, Copiapó Province, Atacama, Chile, trippkeite occurs in a
copper deposit associated with
cuprite, malachite,
olivenite and chalcopyrite
(HOM).
Trippkeite from Copiapó Province - Image
At the Bou Azzer mining district, Drâa-Tafilalet Region, Morocco,
malachite is associated with trippkeite as a
later-generation cover on the trippkeite. The cobalt -
nickel - arsenic mineralisation is
associated with serpentinite,
dolostone, granite,
gabbro and quartz
diorite along various secondary structures such as faults and
brecciated zones, and is distinctly different from that at the Albert
Silver mine (see below)
(R&M 89.5.416-423).
At the Albert silver mine, Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, Nkangala District Municipality, Mpumalanga, South
Africa, the ore deposit occurs in a fissure zone of vertical quartz veins in
porphyritic granite.
The mineral assemblage comprises copper,
silver, lead,
antimony and uranium.
Copper and silver are the most
abundant. Uranium occurs as microcrystals of
uraninite, together with quartz,
magnetite, hematite and purple
fluorite. The principal sulphides in order of abundance are
bornite, pyrite,
chalcopyrite,
tetrahedrite and chalcocite.
In addition, subordinate quantities of arsenopyrite,
sphalerite, galena and
jamesonite occur. Hematite is
a secondary product of
pyrite. The sulphide paragenetic sequence is
pyrite and arsenopyrite,
sphalerite and tetrahedrite,
galena and jamesonite,
bornite and chalcocite, and,
lastly, chalcopyrite.
Trippkeite occurs in association with malachite; the minerals are
a mixture of each other and responsible for the pale green coating in and on
quartz crystals
(R&M 89.5.416-423)
Trippkeite from the Albert Silver Mine -
Image
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