Chalcophyllite

Light chocolate brown, iron-rich Quartz gossan is richly covered and impregnated with turquoise to bluish-green Chalcophyllite crystals and small botryoidal patches of Malachite. From Wheal Gorland at St Day, just east of Redruth, Cornwall, the Chalcophyllite forms platy groups and coatings and exhibits various shades of green according to its degree of hydration. The type locality for Chalcophyllite, a complex hydrated copper-aluminium arsenate sulphate, can only be broadly attributed to Cornwall, yet one can’t help thinking Wheal Gorland was a likely candidate but, sadly, this is something we will never know. A great reference specimen for this most famous of Cornish localities.