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Techniques for CollectorsTurning Copper Pyrite into Peacock Ore

26th Apr 2010 12:48 UTCRay Wilson

Hi everyone,

I have recently been fossicking at a tin mine in Tasmania The owners are quite progressive and helpful to fossickers. They dump any material that they feel maybe of interest to fossickers, but not commercial value, outside the mine gate. When I was there I found excellent specimens of galena and also what I believe to be copper pyrites - (copper sulphide???)

I was told that it was possible to convert the copper specimens into peacock ore by treating with acid. Does anyone have experience with this? Does this treatment (oxidation of the copper I'm presuming) mean that the results are different from naturally occurring peacock ore? Should this treatment be disclosed if selling the resultant peacock coloured specimens?

Any advice appreciated.

26th Apr 2010 15:38 UTCDana Slaughter 🌟 Expert

Hi Ray,

I know of a dealer in Tucson that treats a lot of golden chalcopyrite in acid so as to make "peacock ore." He won't say how he is doing it and I'm no chemist but he has stated that the effect is usually not permanent. He told me that some pieces will revert in a few years and still others much longer. He doesn't actively market them as being treated but will tell you that it has if asked. I couldn't personally sell the stuff without saying that it has been treated either on the label or the flat, etc. Most of the material from the Viburnum Trend lead mines in Missouri has been treated though naturally iridescent chalcopyrite does occur in the mines. Most of the bulk peacock ore (often labeled as bornite and not chalcopyrite) is material collected in Mexico.

Best regards,

Dana

26th Apr 2010 16:56 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert

Household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) will also do it, usually.

26th Apr 2010 18:21 UTCPeter Haas

The trick consists in not rinsing the specimens after the treatment, but to let them dry first and rinse them later. In this way, very thin films of compounds form on the surface. They do not even necessarily have to be related to the sulfides in question.

26th Apr 2010 19:53 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

"Real" peacock ore is bornite: it owes it's name to the iridiscent colors and the color change after it's exposure. Copper pyrite is chalkopyrite, and it is much more abundant and cheaper than bornite. With a cheap chemical trick, the value of chalkopyrite specimens to sell increases.

26th Apr 2010 21:05 UTCAllen Steinburg

From my point of view, treating chalcopyrite to give the desired iridescent colour does not mean that you have true peacock ore. You must have Bornite to say that you have what you want.

27th Apr 2010 03:45 UTCRay Wilson

Thanks all for your responses.

From the comments and from some further reading I believe acid treated chalcopyrite should probably be labelled as tarnished (oxidised??) chalcopyrite. It seems that Bornite should be different in appearance, being usually massive or grainy and rarely showing crystal structures whereas the chalcopyrite that I have is quite frequently exhibiting cubic shaped crystals.

Thanks again,

Ray.

27th Apr 2010 04:39 UTCPeter Haas

When the crystals are cubic, it's pyrite rather than chalcopyrite.

27th Apr 2010 11:37 UTCAndrew Tuma Expert

Hi Ray,

I take it that you were collecting at Mt Bischoff mine at Waratah. If so i would find it highly unlikely that you have any form of copper sulfide, it is known at the mountain but not in any quantity. We have found tarnished iron sulfides at this location for may years.

Mt Bischoff is well known for crystalline pyrite from one area of the deposit, these are often tarnished to quite brilliant rainbow of colours as do some of the massive pyrrhotite.

Please take a few photos and post them in this thread and I will give you a rough opinion.

Andrew T

27th Apr 2010 13:27 UTCRay Wilson

Andrew,

Yes we were at the Mt Bischoff mine at Waratah. I am completely out of my depth with minerals, coming from a lapidary background. We met someone at the fossicking site who told us the material was copper pyrites and happened to mention about treating the material with acid to turn it into peacock ore. Obviously I was sold a "pup". We are currently travelling back to Queensland and will post some photos when I get home ( and have a good look at the material with a 10X lens).

Ray.

P.S. We were hoping to find some tourmaline crystals on the dumps at MtBischoff as I had been shown some that were found there a few months back, but we could only find the pyrites and galena.

27th Apr 2010 20:45 UTCDonald Slater

There are a couple of ways but I have found the most permanent and richest color comes from ore that is more bornite than chalcopyrite. The best results I have had is using plain white vinegar, acetic acid, with a little scrap copper, wire or copper pipe, thrown in. I usually let it set outside covered in the sun for a week or until the color has changed. Pull them out and let dry without rinsing. You can rinse after drying if needed. I don't know how long the color last but I think it is permanent because from what I understand the copper is being altered but it is only a thin layer on the outside. I have never known one to fade. I have also gotten a nice iridescent effect on chalcopyrite using Iron Out. I first noticed this effect while trying to clean some really ugly chalcoyrite on etched dolomite you get from the Tri-state area. It doesn't always turn the chalcopyrite crystal iridescent and the intensity varies. It will also sometimes fade over time but I have only noticed the color fading on the chalcopyrite. I have also used the Iron Out on the bornite ores from Mexico but the color is not as intense. You can sometimes get a nice iridescent color on pyrite using Clorox or other household bleach but sometimes they only turn a bronze color. I find that warming up the Clorox first helps but a friend of mine actually warms up the pyrite first on a hotplate and then puts it in the bleach which is at room temperature. This seems to work best on sedimentary pyrite. If anyone has seen those "very Rare iridescent Boji stones" on Ebay that fetch mega bucks, now you can create you own if you have some rare magical boji stone AKA Kansas pop rocks laying around.

28th Apr 2010 10:54 UTCAndrew Tuma Expert

Ray, I wouldn't worry too much, many people are confused with ID's of our western Tasmanian minerals.

What I did not say was before is that there are few people in the West Tassie towns that use vinegar to tarnish My Lyell Chalcopyrite into "Peacock Ore". It is sold at tourist locations to visitors who want a colourful and shinny bit of Tassie to take home. A bit of a home industry for the tourist trade, (a form of enhancement)

Interestingly, chalco will usually become tarnished when laying on the West coast mine dumps likely due to the high level of acidity in the environment. I had a big piece that was bright purples, reds and blues and used as a garden feature for many years but the tarnish is now gone most likely due to the much lower level of acidity in my home environment and in the rain that falls on it.

Re: the tourmaline's at Mt Bischoff, they are generally very small as a felty habitat, are a darkish blue/green colour and to small to be faceted. I have never seen nor hear of larger individual pieces. What size and colour were to ones shown to you, were they in massive matrix (host rock), if so what type of rock?

I am very interested because you may have been shown an example of the very much desired Beryls.

cheers

Andrew T

28th Apr 2010 13:09 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Hi Ray. From your description, what you most likely have is pyrite. As Andrew correctly says, it is quite plentiful in one part of the mine (what used to be the "White Face" although that is pretty well mined away now. Pyrrhotite is common but not as crystals, and usually a pale bronze colour.

Andrew, there is a large tourmaline in the Australian Museum. I think I have a photo somewhere, taken by Ian Graham.

Regards

Steve

(Sitting in his shoebox listening to the rain falling in Melbourne!)

28th Apr 2010 14:38 UTCMister Crystalman

Super Iron Out......... similar specimens i have collected near Hahns Peak Colorado, contained copper sulfides associated with Quartz and Epidote, i was trying to get the Quartz and Epidote cleaned up.....so into a bath of Super Iron out they went........They don't come out 100% covered in the "Peacock Color" but quite vivid in the areas that do change.....

30th Apr 2010 10:05 UTCRay Wilson

Andrew,

Funny that you mention the beryls, because when I was shown them I immediately thought "emeralds". They looked exactly like Torrington NSW emeralds. I would probably describe the colour as mint coloured - like a spearmint leaf lolly. The person showing me just said, "no, we were told they were tourmaline" and put the specimens away. They were about 8-10mm in length and maybe 1mm in diamater. While I didn't get a close look, they did appear to be transclucent but possibly milky and were not in any matrix. The guy told me he just chipped them off of rocks outside the gate at Mt Bischoff. They were there in late Feb or early March. Certainly when we were there in early April I did not see any "coloured" crystals at all and we had a fairly good pick over the dump over several hours.

Hopefully when I get back to the club the guy who had the stones may have joined and i will be able to check out these crystals a bit more in detail..

Ray.

30th Apr 2010 14:43 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Most of the "peacock ore" on the Mt Bischoff dumps is pyrrhotite; there are lesser amounts of pyrite and other sulphides which all tarnish to some degree. The pyrite the is seldom cubic in form, but usually in more complex forms. The best bet is too break a bit off - the colours of pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and bornite are very different on fresh surfaces (compared to pyrite the last three are green, brown and red to an ore petrologist).

To tarnish pyrrhotite, just leave it out in damp weather for a few weeks, till it gets to the colour you want.

I have visited the site dozens of times and have not seen any green beryl there. Dark green to blue tourmaline is abundant in fine crystals, but I am doubtful of the existance of big crystals of toumaline in Bischoff - the existence of just one specimen in a museum without good provenance is not good proof; it may be from the tin fields in the granites to the south Wombat Flat etc. But crystals to a mm wide are possible, but usually black.

8th May 2010 07:44 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Pretty well all of the tourmaline crystals that I have collected there are green or brown, sometimes zoned, hardly any black, but they are all small...

29th Oct 2012 18:12 UTCStephen Pegler

I accidentally "overcleaned" a good sized piece of somewhat iridescent AZ chalcopyrite right down to a brassy looking looking lump of massive copper ore. The vinegar with a piece of scrap copper (I used a section of copper pipe) trick discussed above worked great. You just have to check the process frequently so you don't overdo it. Now it has a great iridescence. I know this is not for purists but the iridescent chalcopyrite specimen sure looks nice in my mineral cabinet.

Thank you, Steve

28th Mar 2013 12:20 UTCMusfer

Hi everyone,

I have Peacock Ore rocks, and wondering how to get used of them.

any help please.

Thanks

28th Mar 2013 19:06 UTCRock Currier Expert

Your rocks don't look like peacock ore.

10th Jun 2013 15:27 UTCricktvstreets

Hello all you rock specialists out there, could someone please make a video on YouTube demonstrating this process because there isn't one.

26th Mar 2014 06:04 UTCMalik

How can one get a golden colour on the peacock ore?

Also, I think I overcoloured one of my pieces to a dull colour, Is it possible to reverse this?

Thanks

28th Mar 2014 01:04 UTCRock Currier Expert

You will need to tell us which mineral your "peacock ore" is. Usually it is chalcopyrite.

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