• A vial of small irregular chips of iridescent chalcopyrite, held between thumb and forefinger. In the background there are stacked rows of more of the vials. The vial is long and slender with a black plastic lid. The chalcopyrite is a mix of blue, purple, green, and a cool gold, with some flashes of orange.
  • A hand holding several of the small chalcopyrite chips for scale, over a bin full of the chips. The material has a dark overall appearance, with flashy reflective green, blue, and purple.
  • Close view of a bin of the chalcopyrite chips, small irregular pieces with green seeming to be the primary color represented, and blue and purple also common, with a few orange-golden pieces sprinkled in.
  • One of the chalcopyrite vials held in front of a contrasting bright yellow background. The material is fairly dark but with strong peacock tones of green, blue, purple, and orange.
  • A row of five different vials of minerals on a mineral shelf, a vial of chalcopyrite in the center of the row.
  • Diagram showing that the chalcopyrite can contain additional minerals, identify quartz on the left which can appear as white patches or thin veins through the rock. On the right is an example of pyrite, a gold square in the surface of the chalcopyrite, which can appear as gold patches or cubes.
  • A vial on a measuring mat for scale, measuring barely under two and a half inches long and about half an inch wide. There is a chapstick placed next to it to show that it is almost the same size, but slightly larger than the vial.
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Iridescent chalcopyrite chips, small vial

Iridescent chalcopyrite chips, small vial

$3.75 USD
$3.75 USD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.

Locality: Mexico

Glass vial with black plastic screw-top

  • 2 3/8" long, 5/8" wide
  • Each vial contains 10g+ of chalcopyrite
  • **Altered material

 

Iridescent chalcopyrite is frequently sold as "peacock ore" due to its jewel-tone mix of blue, green, purple, and gold. If pyrite is fool's gold, then this variety of chalcopyrite is fool's bornite: it borrows its trade name from the closely related mineral bornite, the original peacock ore. The same process causes vibrant iridescence in both minerals by tarnishing the metallic surface into iridescent color: bornite naturally oxidizes on exposure to air, and exposure to acid chemically induces a similar tarnish in chalcopyrite.

Chalcopyrite's tarnishing process can occur naturally, but the brightly-colored chunks of material most commonly found on the market have been treated: they have undergone an acid bath to rapidly achieve a strong tarnish. Essentially people have taken advantage of the material's natural properties to bring out the rainbow iridescence. Since chalcopyrite is a much more abundant mineral compared to bornite, this treated material is the inexpensive stuff you typically see for sale as "peacock ore" at souvenir and rock shops across the southwestern US. Unfortunately it is often sold as bornite, lending to chalcopyrite's reputation as the "faux peacock ore."

The brilliant colors form an extremely thin layer on the surface, but the chalcopyrite beneath is a gold-colored mineral that is often mistaken for pyrite. It is a copper-based metallic mineral with a similar weighty heft to pyrite, but is softer and more prone to scratches, flaking, and crumbling compared to pyrite. Pyrite often grows along with chalcopyrite, and is included in many of the vials; it does not respond to the acid bath and remains a metallic gold tone. Chalcopyrite is also often accompanied by minerals like quartz (forming white veins and patches), calcite, bornite, and galena.

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