Barite, native Copper, skeletal silica

G

0 for sale

Barite with copper inclusions and skeletal silica, 5 cm, from 4 level, 500 copper orebody, Isa mine, Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia; collected in a ventilation shaft in January 1964. Acidic sulfate solutions formed during the oxidation of chalcopyrite at the top of the primary copper 500 orebody have leached the dolomite from the silica/dolomite host rock leaving a skeleton of silica. Transparent barite crystals and copper have deposited on the remaining skeletal silica. Some of the barite has inclusions of shiny dendritic crystals of native copper. External to the barite, the native copper is oxidizing to malachite. Andrey Chernev photo.