Formula: CuFeS₂

Species: Sulfides

Colour: Brass yellow, often with an iridescent tarnish.

Lustre: Metallic

Hardness: 3½ – 4

Specific Gravity: 4.1 – 4.3

Crystal System: Tetragonal

Member of: Chalcopyrite Group. Chalcopyrite-Eskebornite Series.

Name: Named in 1725 by Johann Friedrich Henckel from the Greek “chalkos”, copper, and “pyrites”, strike fire.

A major ore of copper. Common in sulfide veins and disseminated in igneous rocks. Weathering may lead to the formation of malachite, azurite, brochantite, langite and numerous other secondary copper minerals.