Light green waxy mass of the extremely rare tellurium mineral chekhovichite associated to bronze metallic melonite from the type locality: Zod Mine, Geghark Province, Armenia. — Photo: David Hospital · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chekhovichite
Chekhovichite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the oxides & hydroxide class, with the chemical formula Bi³⁺₂Te⁴⁺₄O₁₁.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system (space group P2_1/n).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4; specific gravity 6.88; White streak; Adamantine luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Ckh, IMA status: approved, named in 1986.
A rare oxidation product of earlier tellurium-bearing minerals.
It is found associated with Tellurobismuthite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, emmonsite, tripuhyite, “limonite”, quartz.
The mineral was named to honor Professor Sergei Konstantinovich Chekhovich (1917–1997), mineralogist and geologist, Polytechnical Institute of Alma-Ata, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan.