Abstract
Idaite occurs at the contact of massive sulfide ore with overlying well-bedded, ochreous sediments at Skouriotissa, Cyprus. It occurs as rims around, and fracture fillings in, chalcopyrite and is invariably rimmed with covellite. The optical properties of the Skouriotissa idaite are comparable with those described by Frenzel (1959) for supergene idaite from the Ida mine, Southwest Africa. Electron probe microanalyses indicate a composition Cu3FeS4. This composition is in agreement with that suggested by Levy (1965) and by Sillitoe and Clark (1969) for idaite comparable in all respects with the Skouriotissa idaite. The idaite was probably formed during oxidative leaching of chalcopyrite by descending ferric suliate bearing acid solutions produced during the submarine oxidation of pyrite to goethite of the ochre.