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Formula: Cu4(MoO4)3(OH)2
Molybdenate
Crystal System: Trigonal
Specific gravity: 5.1 calculated
Hardness: 3½ to 4
Streak: Pale reddish brown to pinkish
Colour: Very dark reddish brown
Luminescence: Non-fluorescent under 254 nm (short wave) and 366 nm (long wave) UV
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, the San Samuel mine, Carrera Pinto, Cachiyuyo de Llampos mining district, Copiapó, Copiapó
Province, Atacama, Chile, huenite and lindgrenite are oxidation
products of primary
copper sulphide minerals in a body of
brecciated quartz
porphyry enriched in
molybdenite and copper
sulphides (mainly djurleite).
The primary sulphides were mineralised by late-stage
hydrothermal fluids as open-space fillings. The porphyry bodies have
been prospected and mined for copper,
gold and tungsten.
Huenite occurs as small orthorhombic prisms (60–70 microns long) perched on the surfaces of brittle fractures
in the quartz breccia, in
close association with lindgrenite,
gypsum and tourmaline
(CM 57.467-474, HOM).
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