Species
Description
The Potrerillos mine in Chañaral Province, Atacama, Chile, worked a mineralized porphyry stock which intruded a sedimentary carbonate sequence of mid to late Mesozoic age. This rich specimen of the copper-aluminium arsenate Chalcophyllite is a magnificent example of this quite rare species and covers two main areas measuring approximately 6 x 2 cm and 3 x 1.5 cm. The Chalcophyllite forms an intergrown network of platy hexagonal crystals of its characteristic bluish-turquoise, commonly of 3 to 4 mm across. Surrounding much of the Chalcophyllite is a dark leaf-green, micro botryoidal mineral whose identify is unknown, but it is quite possibly amorphous. The matrix in the base is criss-crossed by thin veinlets of Azurite. A magnificent Chalcophyllite from Chile and probably dating to the 1960s.
