Domeykite

specimen number:
1791247

location:
Champion Mine, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA

description:
A thick vein of metallic massive domeykite in matrix. Interesting historical specimen that comes with several antique labels as shown at the end of the video. One of the labels dates the piece to 1901.

The Champion Mine in Houghton County, Michigan, was part of the Portage Lake copper district and was developed in the late 19th century to exploit native copper deposits in conglomerate and amygdaloidal basalt of the Portage Lake Lava Series. Mining was carried out through extensive underground workings that followed the copper bearing lodes, and the mine became a significant producer during its period of operation. Like many mines in the region, activity declined in the early 20th century as production decreased, and the mine eventually closed, leaving it as part of the historic copper mining landscape of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Domeykite is a copper arsenide mineral that occurs in hydrothermal and copper rich deposits, often associated with native copper and other arsenide minerals. It typically forms metallic gray to whitish masses or small crystals and may tarnish to darker colors.

George Augustus Koenig (1843 to 1903) was an American mineralogist, chemist, and collector associated with the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a professor of chemistry and made significant contributions to mineralogy through both research and collecting. Koenig described a number of minerals and worked on analytical studies of mineral compositions. He also assembled an important mineral collection, and many specimens, such as this one, bearing his label are still encountered today.

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