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A CHECKLIST OF MINERALS FROM THE TUI MINE, TE AROHA, NEW ZEALAND

Susan F. COURTNEY1, P. KING2 & KA. RODGERS1

department of Geology, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, New Zealand. 2 5 Peet Avenue, Epsom, Auckland 3, New Zealand.

(Received 26 March, 1990)

SUMMARY

Courtney, S.R, King, P. & Rodgers, ICA., (1990). A check list of minerals from the Tui Mine, Te Aroha, New Zealand. New Zealand Natural Sciences 17: 95-98.

The lead-copper-zinc ores of Tui Mine, Te Aroha, the former Champion Mine, have been exploited sporadi­ cally for over a hundred years. A rich harvest of primary and secondary minerals include 3 native elements, 14 sulphides, selenides and tellurides, ll oxides and hydroxides, ll carbonates, 1 phosphate, 1 arsenate, 20 silicates, 15 sulphates, and 1 tungstate, with 6 other probable but ill-defined occurrences.

KEYWORDS: minerals - Tui Mine - New Zealand.

INTRODUCTION Rodgers 1990). The following check list has been prepared by combining information from Tui Mine, Te Aroha, New Zealand (lat all the above sources. No new records are in­ 37°32'S; long 175*33'E) is one of New Zealand's cluded, nor are any identifications reported in most prolific mineral localities, with over six unpublished manuscripts or files where data is dozen species recorded from this one locality. insufficient to verify these. Older records, such The ore bodies and enclosing host rocks have a as those of Park (1893, 1910) and Morgan long history of scientific documentation (e.g., (1927), often identify mineral localities only in Park 1893, 1910, Henderson & Bartrum 1913, general terms e.g., Te Aroha. Only where the Cochrane 1969, Weissberg & Wodzicki 1970 Champion or Tui.Mine is specifically mentioned Wodzicki and Weissberg, 1970) and have proved has a record been included here with the excep­ a fertile collecting ground for amateur mineralo­ tion of those for electrum, argentite (= ?acan- gists whose discoveries have added extensively to thite) and cerargyrite (= chlorargyrite). No spe­ the known record. cific records of the occurrence of these minerals Ansin (1975) documented some fifty mineral at Tui/Champion have been found, but Park species which had been collected from the work­ (1910), Henderson and Bartrum (1913) and ings, both by amateurs and from surveys con­ Morgan (1927) imply that all three were encoun­ ducted by Government and Norpac Company tered in the mine. scientists in the late 1960s. His Ust overlooked The check list has been usefully compared earlier records (e.g., Park 1893, 1910, Morgan with an unpublished manuscript of Dr WA. 1927) and did not include information contained Watters of the New Zealand Geological Survey in an unpublished thesis manuscript in the Uni­ which updates Morgan's (1927) mineral list for versity of Auckland Library (Cochrane 1969). New Zealand as a whole. Watters includes This list also took little account of the primary many, but not all, of the minerals reported by minerals of the host andesites as well as their Park, Wodzicki, Weissberg, and Ansin alteration products. Continued collecting by The deposit is a base metal sulphide ore de­ amateurs in and around the old mine has pro­ posit consisting of two lead-copper-zinc lodes, duced several new records (e.g., Courtney & the Ruakaka and Champion veins, which have 96 New Zealand Natural Sciences 17 (1990) developed along structurally simple, fault con­ MINERAL (continued) M W C A X trolled fissures which cut hydrothermally altered andesitic rocks of 16 m.y. Beesons Island Vol­ Pyrite FeS2 canics (Adams et al 1974). Both lodes consist of Marcasite FeS2 * * * quartz cemented wall rock breccia, within which Tennantite (Cu,Fe)i2As4Si3 is a younger and narrower brecciated zone ce­ Tetrahedrite (Cu,Fe) Sb S mented by chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena 12 4 13 along with pyrite, quartz and minor hematite. Mineralisation occurs along well-defined ore Oxides and Hydroxides shoots, all ore having a similar mineralogy and Cuprite Cu20 paragenesis (Weissberg & Wodzicki 1970, Tenorite = (Melaconite) CuO Wodzicki & Weissberg 1970). The hydrothermal + Quartz Si02 * * * * alteration is regarded as occurring between 2.6 Massicot PbO + + + + + and 4 million years ago, contemporaneously with Minium Pb2+ Pb Q4 + Magnetite Fe + + Fe + + + Pliocene vulcanism in the region (Adams et al 2 o4 1974). Maghemite Y-Fe203 The listing follows the Dana-style, chemical Hematite oc-Fe2C>3 ordering adopted by Hey (1962) and uses the Goethite a-FeO.OH formulae given by him, except where these have Lepidocrocite Y-FeO.OH been revised since 1962 as given, for example, by (Limonite) Fleischer (1987). Halides CHECKLIST (Cerargyrite) = Chlorargyrite AgCl (P)

Mineral names in brackets indicate either ill- Carbonates defined terms, or names of mineral groups Malachite Cu2C03(OH)2 rather than of a distinct species. A bracketed Azurite Cu3(C03)2(OH)2 letter identifies an ill-defined record but one Magnesite MgC03 which may well be correct. + = minerals identi­ Calcite CaC03 fied from the least altered host rocks. Dolomite CaMg(C03)2

Smithsonite ZnC03

MINERAL M W C A X Dundasite PbAl2(C03)2(OH)4.H20 Cerrusite PbC03 * * * Native elements (Ferroan dolomite) ++ Copper Cu * SideriteFe C03

Gold Au * Ankerite Ca(Mg,Fe)(C03)2 (Electrum) (Au,Ag) (P) Tellurium Te * Phosphates, arsenates, etc.

Pyromorphite Pb5(P04)3Cl

Sulfides, selenides, tellurides, etc. Mimetite Pb5(As04)3Cl (fig.la) Chalcocite Cu2S * Covellite CuS * * * Silicates, aluminosilicates, etc.

Chalcopyrite CuFeS2 * * * * (Sphene) = Titanite CaTiSi05 Argentite = Acanthite Ag2S (p) (Leucoxene) Hessite Ag2Te * + (Orthopyroxene) + + Sphalerite ZnS * * * * * + Hypersthene (Mg,Fe )2Si206 (Marmatite) (Zn,Fe+ +)S Allophane (aluminium-silicate gel) Greenockite CdS Kaolinite Al2Si205(OH)4 * * * * Hawleyite CdS Halloysite Al2Si205(OH)4.2H20

Cinnabar HgS * * * Albite NaAlSi3Og

Galena PbS * * * * * Adularia (K-feldspar) KAlSi3Og S.F. Courtney, P. King, & KA. Rodgers: Minerals of the Tui mine 97

MINERAL {continued) M W C A X

IlUte K2.3Al11Si12.13035.36(OH)12.13 (Sericite) * * Montmorillonite

(Na,Ca)o3(Al,Mg)2Si4010(OH)2.nH20 *

Prehnite Ca2Al2Si3O10(OH)2 *

Laumontite CaAl2Si4012 4H20 *

Leonhardite CaAl4Si8023 7H20 *

Wairakite CaAl2Si4012 2H20 *

+ (Plagioclase)(NaSi,CaAl)AlSi2Og * *

+ Labradorite(NaSi,CaAl)AlSi208 * *

+Andesine (NaSi,CaAl)AlSi2Og * * + (Chlorite) * * + + + Epidote Ca2(Al,Fe )3Si3012OH * * + (Pyroxene) * + (Clinopyroxene) * *

+Augite(Ca,Na)(Mg,FeAl,Ti)(Si^l)206 * * (Uralite - amphibole) *

Sulphates

Chalcanthite CuS04 5H20 (*)

Brochantite Cu4(SO)4(OH)6 (Fig. Ib) *

Devilline CaCu4(S04)2(OH)6.3H20

Epsomite MgS04.7H20 *

Gypsum CaS04.H20 * *

Barite BaS04 Ktenasite (Fig. le)

(Cu,Zn)5(S04)2(OH)6.6H20

Serpierite Ca(Cu,Zn)4(S04)2(OH)6/3H20

Anglesite PbS04 * * *

Linarite (Pb,Cu)2S04(OH)2 + + + Beaverite Pb(Cu,Fe ,A1)3(S04)2(0H)6 + + Melanterite Fe S04.7H20 * + + Jarosite KFe3 + (S04)2(OH)6 Figure 1. Scanning electron photomicrographs. All scale Osarizawaite PbCuAl2(S04)2(OH)6 bars = 0.1 mm. (A) Prismatic mimetite crystal from Tui Posnjakite Cu4(S04)(OH)6.H20 Mine with well developed (1011), (0001) termination. (B) Twinned brochantite crystal from Tui Mine, showing typical Tungstates striated habit. The unusual twinning is akin to that seen in Wolframite (Fe + + ,Mn)W0 4 pseudohexagonal aragonite. (C) A cluster of ktenasite crys­ tals from Tui Mine. Each crystal consists of a prismatic M = Morgan (1927) including Marshall (1909); P = Park tablet, flattened on ac and terminated by acute hemidomes, (1893, 1910); Henderson & Bartrum (1913); Morgan & Bartrum (1913); Annual Reports ofthe Museum and Co­ clinopinacoids, and hemipyramids. lonial Laboratory; Annual Reports of the Colonial Labo­ ratory', & Annual Reports ofthe Dominion Laboratory. W = Weissberg & Wodzicki (1970); Wodzicki & Weissberg ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (1970); and Adams et al. (1974). C = Cochrane (1969). The manuscript has profited from the advice A = Ansin (1975). and counsel of Dr Lin Sutherland of the Austra­ X = Courtney & Rodgers (1990). lian Museum. 98 New Zealand Natural Sciences 17 (1990)

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