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Native copper

Cuivre

MNHN N°206.191

visu_65 infos

FROM : Montroc, Teillet, Tarn, France
SIZE : 19 x 11 x 4.5 cm

general description

This sample of native copper is associated with cuprite (red) and milky quartz. Copper is filiforme, it is oxidized in some places, where it has a green-gray color due to the copper oxide. The sample measures 19 x 11 x 4.5 cm.

This sample comes from the French mine of Montroc in Tarn. It was bought in 1908 from a tradesman Mr. Boubée. It is kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photographie : Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

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The Species page

Identity card

SPECIE : Native copper

HISTORY : Name inspired from the Greek word "cuprum" [kyprios], Cyprus Island where copper was mined during the Antiquity

Species first described in 77 by Caius Plinius Secundus (23-79 AC), Roman writer and historian

Type-locality: unknown

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Cu
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Cubic
COLOR : Pink pale to red-orange
DIAPHANIETY : Opaque
LUSTER : Metallic
STREAK : Red
MORPHOLOGY : Cubic crystals, dodecahedra, filiforms, arborescent
HARDNESS : 2,5-3,0
DENSITY : 8,93

CHEMICAL CLASS : I - Elements
GROUP : Copper
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 1/A.01-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 1.AA.05

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