Covellite

Very common mineral of the "sulfides und sulfosalts" class

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Covellite from Summitville, Colorado, USA

Origin of name: in English literature Italian botanist and chemist Nicola Covelli is said to be the discoverer. However, it was first described in 1815 by the Saxon mining official Johann Carl Freiesleben, who called it a copper ore of indigo colour to blackishblue colour.
German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth thought the new mineral was a variety of chalcopyrite.
In 1818 German mineralogist August Breithaupt mentioned Freileben´s discovery in his "Handbuch der Mineralogie" (handbook of mineralogy) and called it Kupferindig (indigo copper).
Nicola Covelli was the first to analyze its chemical composition (1827) from samples collected from lavas of Mount Vesuvius which he studied.
Finally, in 1832 French mineralogist and geologist Francois Beudant named it after Covelli

Synonyms and trade names: covelline, covellonite, blue copper, copper indigo

Can  be confused with: several minerals of similar colours and patterns like chalcopyrite, chalkosine und bornite

Localities: more than 3000 localities on all continents including Antarctica. However, most localities only yield small amounts of covellite. Type locality is Mount Vesuvius. Other important European localities are Sardinia, Germany, Austria, Poland and Serbia. Furthermore significant numbers of localities are in the USA and in Argentina. Due to the lack of truly large deposits covellites role as a copper ore is secondary at best.

Handling: due to the very low hardness, it´s perfect cleavage and high sensitivity towards acids and heat covellite is not suited for use in jewellery

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