Chalcopyrite

{| border=1 cellspacing=0 align=right cellpadding=0 width=250 style="margin-left:1em" |----- align=center bgcolor="#9966FF" !colspan=2 align=center|Chalcopyrite |----- align=center !colspan=2| |----- align=center bgcolor="#9966FF" !colspan=2|General |----- |Category||Mineral |----- |Chemical formula||copper iron sulfide:CuFeS₂ |----- align="center" bgcolor="#9966FF" !colspan=2|Identification |----- | Color || Brass yellow, may have iridescent purplish tarnish. |----- | Crystal habit || predominantly the disphenoid and resembles a tetrahedron. Crystals sometines twinned. Also commonly massive, and sometimes botryoidal. |----- | Crystal structure || tetragonal bar 4 2m |----- | Cleavage|| [112] Indistinct |----- | Fracture|| conchoidal and brittle |----- | Mohs Scale hardness || 3.5 |----- | Luster||metallic |----- | Refractive index||opaque |----- | Pleochroism|| N/A |----- | Streak||dark green |----- | Specific gravity|| 4.1 - 4.3 |----- | Fusibility||2 |----- | Solubility||? |----- | Other Characteristics||magnetic on heating |----- align="center" bgcolor="#9966FF" !colspan=2|Major varieties |----- | |----- |} Chalcopyrite is a copper iron sulfide mineral that crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has chemical composition CuFeS₂. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and Mohs hardness scale of 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs scale. Due to its color it is often confused with pyrite though this mineral has a cubic and not a tetragonal crystal system and chalcopyrite is more often massive and less brittle. Chalcopyrite is also a darker yellow in color. Chalcopyrite is one of the most important copper ores. Chalcopyrite ore occurs in a variety of ore types, from huge masses as at Timmins, Ontario, to irregular veins and disseminations associated with granite to diorite intrusives as in the porphyry copper deposits of the American cordillera and the Andes. {| align=right | |} ==References== *Dana's Manual of Mineralogy ISBN 0471032883 *[http://www.mindat.org/min-955.html mindat.org] *[http://webmineral.com/data/Chalcopyrite.shtml Webmineral.com] *[http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/sulfides/chalcopy/chalcopy.htm Mineral Galleries] Minerals Sulfide minerals Iron minerals

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Words begining with Chalcopyrite:

Chalcopyrite