WGNHS
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey

Covellite

Covellite with pen for scale. From the mineral collection of Brigham Young University Department of Geology, Provo, Utah, Mineral Specimens 430. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Denver Library Photographic Collection. (Photo by Andrew Silver.)

Formula: CuS Hexagonal

Description:

Covellite with pen for scale. From the mineral collection of Brigham Young University Department of Geology, Provo, Utah, Mineral Specimens 430. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Denver Library Photographic Collection. (Photo by Andrew Silver.)

Covellite forms in oxidized and supergene zones as an alteration product of other copper minerals.

FOREST COUNTY: Covellite forms thin supergene coatings on other sulfide minerals at the Crandon deposit (May and Schmidt, 1982; Lamb and Rowe, 1989).

IOWA COUNTY: Covellite is found with chalcopyrite, chalcocite, galena, sphalerite, pyrite and marcasite at the Pierson Prospect in the NW Sec. 5 T.4N R.3E, near Mineral Point (Heyl et al., 1959). The authors note the mineral as found in small amounts throughout the Upper Mississippi Valley zinc-lead district.

WINNEBAGO COUNTY: Covellite is reported from the Lutz Quarry, along Route 44 west Oshkosh. Here it is in vugs in dolostone with bornite, cuprite, sphalerite, marcasite, pyrite and calcite (USGS, 1976).