roxbyite

TSNB305

Species

Title

roxbyite

Composition

Cu58S32

Crystal System

Triclinic

Status at Tsumeb

Believed valid

Abundance

Extremely rare

Distribution

Sulphide ores.

Paragenesis

Supergene (?)

Type Locality

No

Entry Type

Species TSNB305

The occurrence of roxbyite at Tsumeb was reported by Blass et al. (2009) who confirmed its presence on a specimen collected in 1982 but from an unknown location in the mine. The specimen consists of weathered galena-rich sulphide ore, with geometrical cavities apparently where galena crystals were once located. These cavities are lined with a thin crust of cerussite and intergrown digenite and roxbyite (EDS and XRD analysed).

While roxbyite is considered to be extremely rare at Tsumeb it is fair to say that it would be very easily overlooked, likely to be visible only through reflected light microscopy and requiring sophisticated analysis for verification.

cerussite; chalcocite; digenite; galena