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Identity HelpChalcopyrite from Japan?

2nd Aug 2010 04:11 UTCJohn Magnasco Manager

Hello All:

For those of you with expertise in either Japanese minerals or Chalcopyrite, please take a look at the attached photos and let me know what you think. The piece is labeled as Chalcopyrite, Ugo, Japan (without any old labels - dealer label only). Size is 6.3 x 9.7 x 4.4 cm

I have reviewed 6 different Japanese references that I possess, searched the web, and cannot find any comparable specimens or reasonably close descriptions. So I am now reaching out to the broader Mindat team to provide help.

Please let me know if you've seen a specimen like this or have any relevant information.

Thanks!

2nd Aug 2010 05:08 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

John, what's that thin white crust on parts of it? Drusy quartz?

Anything labelled "Ugo" one would expect to be from the late 19th or early 20th centuries and to be quite tarmished.

Can't say I've ever seen anything quite like this before, but the variety of chalcopyrites from the Arakawa, Hisaichi, Ani, Hosaka, Daira, Hanaoka, Sayama and several other mines in southern Akita ("Ugo" ) is quite astonishing; probably no one knows all the many habits, from both hydrothermal veins and cavities in massive pyrite deposits (kuroko). ...which is all a long-winded way of saying it would be very hard to say any chalcopyrite is not from Akita.

2nd Aug 2010 06:01 UTCJohn Magnasco Manager

Hello Alfredo:

Thanks for the response. The white crusts are milky quartz druses somewhat preferentially oriented on certain faces of the chalcopyrite.

Cheers,

John

2nd Aug 2010 07:32 UTCMark Storaasli

I'm not familiar with "exactly the same ore" your specimen represents...but it may be a "hyper-crystalline" type of more

generally massive "VMS" (Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide) ore similar to the "ohko" ("yellow ore") that was mined at

Kosaka Mine (Akita Prefecture) as early as the 1930's- and on into the 1950's or -60's...labels on material I have mention

a "Dr. Kinoshita" discussing the Kosaka ore types in conferences held "before the war"...I've not followed research any

further, however. ~Mark

7th Aug 2010 07:36 UTCJohn Magnasco Manager

Hello Mark:

Thanks for the additional info. All of the "yellow ore" I have seen has been massive, but as Alfredo notes, can't really say it is not from there.

John

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