tetrahedrite

American  

[te-truh-hee-drahyt] / ˌtɛ trəˈhi draɪt /

noun

1. a steel-gray or blackish mineral with a brilliant metallic luster, essentially copper and antimony sulfide, (Cu, Fe, Zn, Ag,) 12 Sb 4 S 13 , an end member of a series of solid solutions into which arsenic enters to form tennantite: mined as an ore of copper and silver.

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tetrahedrite British  

/ ˌtɛtrəˈhiːdraɪt /

noun

1. a grey metallic mineral consisting of a sulphide of copper, iron, and antimony, often in the form of tetrahedral crystals: it is a source of copper. Formula: (Cu,Fe) 12 Sb 4 S 13

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Etymology

Origin of tetrahedrite

1865–70; tetrahedr(on) + -ite ¹, modeled on German Tetraedrit

Example Sentences

Fine crystals of large size have been found with quartz and chalybite in the mines at Neudorf in the Harz, and with blende and tetrahedrite at Kapnik-B�nya near Nagy-B�nya in Hungary.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various

In external form these crystals are cubic with inclined hemihedrism, the symmetry being the same as in blende and tetrahedrite.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2 "Bohemia" to "Borgia, Francis" by Various

Ores.—The principal ores of copper are the oxides cuprite and melaconite, the carbonates malachite and chessylite, the basic chloride atacamite, the silicate chrysocolla, the sulphides chalcocite, chalcopyrite, erubescite and tetrahedrite.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various