Keyite
Keyite is a strikingly colored, and very rare, hydrated copper-zinc-cadmium arsenate of the Alluadite Group. It is named after Charles "Charlie" Locke Key, a prominent U.S. dealer of minerals from southern Africa with outstanding mineral identification skills. He has been instrumental in accumulating significant and systematic collections of minerals for preservation and research purposes, especially from Tsumeb, Namibia, and the Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa. Keyite occurs as translucent, cobalt blue to deep teal blue, vitreous, prismatic [001] to tabular {010} crystals associated with schultenite, cuprian adamite, and zincian olivenite in tennantite ore from the Tsumeb mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region, Namibia. This is the type and solitary locality for the species. Only a handful of specimens of this exceptionally beautiful mineral are known.
You can buy these vibrantly colored crystals named after Charlie Key online from The Arkenstone, www.iRocks.com to add fine mineral specimens to your collection.
- RARE08-2-04
- Keyite
- Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region, Namibia (Type Locality)
- Thumbnail
- 0.9 x 0.7 x 0.5 cm
- JWL14A-42
- Keyite (Type Locality) and Cuprian Adamite
- Tsumeb Mine, Otjikoto Region, Namibia (TL)
- Thumbnail
- 1.7 x 1.2 x 0.8 cm