cuprite

[′kyü‚prīt]

(mineralogy)

Cu₂O A red mineral that crystallizes in the isometric system and is found in crystals and fine-grained aggregates or is massive; a widespread supergene copper ore. Also known as octahedral copper ore; red copper ore; ruby copper ore.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cuprite

(also ruby copper, red copper ore), a mineral; cuprous oxide, Cu₂O (88.8 percent Cu, 11.2 percent O). Cuprite crystallizes in the isometric system. The crystals are octahedral, dodecahedral or, less frequently, acicular or fibrous (chalcotrich-ite). The mineral generally occurs in massive granular, sometimes earthy, aggregates. Cuprite is red in color with a high adamantine luster. Its hardness on Mohs’ scale is 3.5–4 and its density is 5,850–6,200 kg/m³.

Cuprite is a typical supergene mineral formed from primary copper sulfides and secondary chalcocite. It occurs in association with malachite, native copper, and other secondary minerals in the oxidation zone of copper deposits. In the USSR, cuprite deposits are located in the Urals (Gumeshki, Mednaia Ruda, and Turiia mines) and in the Kazakh SSR (Dzhezkazgan). There are also deposits in France (Chessy, near Lyon), Chile, Peru, and the United States (Bisbee, Ariz.).

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References in periodicals archive

The Mineral Cuprite. Retrieved August 1, 2017, from http://www.minerals.net/mineral/cuprite.aspx b.

The Science of Ceramic Glaze Color

The results can be clearly seen from different methods on recovery Cuprite, as shown in Table 1.

A Novel Measurement Matrix Optimization Approach for Hyperspectral Unmixing

In the Holy Ambrogio altar, the team found "microcracks and a dense population of cuprite ([Cu.sup.2]O) microglobules that formed during the manufacturing of the panel." The researchers found other cracks as well, which they attributed to brittleness caused by the aging of the ancient silver.

New views into an old craft: Nanotech methods provide new insight into the methods of ancient gilders

Mapping of hydrothermal alteration in the Cuprite Mining District, Nevada, using aircraft scanner images for the spectral region 0.46 to 2.36pm.

Hyperspectral remote sensing and zone of degasification in part of Sabatayn Basin-Yemen

On the 7100 level of the Blackbird mine, groups of small copper crystals to 1 mm and coated with cuprite occur in a small quartz vein in the footwall of the Chicago zone (personal observation).

The Blackbird mine: the Blackbird mine, located in east-central Idaho, has the dual distinction of being the only primary producer of cobalt in the United States, and also the source of some of the world's finest crystals of ludlamite and vivianite. The mine closed in 1982 and is currently undergoing environmental remediation, so it is unlikely that any additional specimens will ever be collected there

their malachite gifts, azurite, cuprite, fool's gold,

Their Lives and Shadows

Supergene mineralisation is wide spread, with chalcocite, malachite and cuprite as the main secondary minerals.

Challenge on the Zambian Copperbelt

Although copper moves freely in nature in small quantities, it exists especially as red cuprite [Cu.sub.2]O, halkosit [Cu.sub.2]S, gold-bright halkopirit CuFe[S.sub.2], bornit [Cu.sub.3]Fe[S.sub.3], bright-green malachite [Cu.sub.2][(OH).sub.2]C[O.sub.3] and dark blue azurite [Cu.sub.3][(OH).sub.2][(C[O.sub.3]).sub.2] in nature (6).

The use of ash after Saggar Firing: Hasan Baskirkan describes an alternative raw material for glazes

The 10-cm specimen shows brilliant green acicular crystals of atacamite to 3 cm forming tight sprays which fill a cavity in massive cuprite. Jordi (www.fabreminerals.com) says that this is the best of about 15 such specimens found last year at the collecting site.

Tucson show 2010