Chalcophyllite

Maucher (1908a) observed the presence of grey-green crusts of "erinite" on malachite in early ore samples from the first oxidation zone. Unfortunately, this record is ambiguous because "erinite" is a pseudonym of both chalcophyllite (Beudant 1832, Des Cloizeaux 1845; see Palache et al. 1951) and cornwallite (Haidinger 1828; see Palache et al. 1951); either way, Maucher’s (1908a) description of the habit and colour of the mineral appears somewhat more typical of cornwallite than of chalcophyllite.

Bartelke (1976) interpreted Maucher’s (1908a) "erinite" as cornwallite; however, Pinch and Wilson (1977) list "Chalcophyllite ("erinite")" as occurring at Tsumeb based on Maucher’s (1908a) commentary. Unfortunately, this interpretation has probably perpetuated the presence of chalcophyllite in some of the more recently published species lists. Chalcophyllite is omitted from the listing of Keller (1984) but include by Lombaard et al. (1986) albeit listed as "extremely rare". Gebhard (1999) and Von Bezing et al. (2016) include chalcophyllite in their listings, although both consider the occurrence at Tsumeb questionable.

There appears to be no reliable record of chalcophyllite at Tsumeb and questionable status is retained pending a modern confirmation.