Domeykite

specimen number:
1791286

location:
East Houghton, Michigan, USA

description:
Neat historical specimen with metallic masses of domeykite throughout matrix. The specimen comes with several previous labels as shown at the end of the video. This is said to have been collected by G. A. Koenig in 1898. The labels are shown at the end of the video.

Domeykite is a rare copper arsenide mineral with a metallic luster and a distinctively heavy, brassy or silver-white appearance. Geologically, it forms in hydrothermal veins associated with native copper and other arsenides. First described in 1845 from its type locality at the Algodones Mines in Coquimbo, Chile (which operated intermittently across the 19th and early 20th centuries), it was later found in significant quantities in the United States within Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula—such as at the Mohawk Mine (opened in 1898 and closed in 1932) and the Sheldon-Columbian Mine (opened in 1853 and closed in the late 19th century).

George Augustus Koenig (1844 to 1913) was a prominent late 19th-century chemist, mineralogist, and professor who made foundational contributions to American earth sciences. Operating primarily out of the University of Pennsylvania before later moving to the Michigan College of Mines, he discovered and scientifically described numerous new mineral species. His rigorous analytical methods and extensive research on the mineralogy of the American West and the Michigan Copper Country greatly advanced the study of complex sulfide and arsenide mineral assemblages.

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