Covellite
Species
Uncommon · CuS
An indigo blue copper sulfide that splits into flexible leaves and flashes brass yellow to deep red. It forms mostly in the enriched zone of copper sulfide deposits, often as a coating on chalcocite and other sulfides: a lesser ore mined with them, better known to collectors. First described from Vesuvius and named for Niccolò Covelli.
Identity
- Formula
- CuS
- Chemical class
- Sulfide
- Also known as
- Covelline, Indigo copper
- Ore of
- Copper
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Habits
- Tabular, Foliated, Massive
- Fracture
- Uneven
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 1.5
- Density
- 4.6 g/cm³
- Luster
- Submetallic, Resinous
- Colors
- dark blue, blue, multicolored
- Streak
- lead-gray, shining
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Hydrothermal, Volcanic
- Host rocks
- Granite
- Associated minerals
- Chalcopyrite, Chalcocite, Bornite, Enargite, Pyrite
- Found in
- Oxidized zone (gossan), Porphyry copper deposit
- Geography
- Italy (Vesuvius; Calabona, Sardinia), Serbia (Bor), USA (Butte, Montana; Kennicott, Alaska), Argentina (Sierra de Famatina)
Classification
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- M. Pasero and others, IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, The New IMA List of Minerals, updated September 2026. International Mineralogical Association (CNMNC), 2026.
- J. W. Anthony, R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, M. C. Nichols, Covellite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Covellite. Wikipedia.
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