CORKITE FROM GLANDORE MINE, COUNTY CORK, AND THE DISCOVERY OF FIVE MINERAL SPECIES NEW TO IRELAND: CHALCOSIDERITE, CHURCHITE-Y, DELAFOSSITE, KIDWELLITE, AND KINTOREITE

Glandore Mine, County Cork is the type locality for the uncommon lead–iron sulfate phosphate mineral corkite, the only mineral named after an Irish county. Electron microprobe analyses of thirteen ‘corkite’ samples revealed the closely related mineral kintoreite. One single spot analysis had molar Ba > Pb, which would make this a new mineral species: the barium analogue of corkite. This study also mineralogically characterises the Mn ores from Glandore Mine to species level, finding that they belong mostly to the cryptomelane–hollandite series. Other rare secondary minerals include cacoxenite and strengite, plus five minerals new to Ireland: chalcosiderite, churchite-Y, delafossite, kidwellite, and the aforementioned kintoreite. The Glandore Mn deposit results from a series of mineralising events that lasted from the early Upper Devonian until possibly as late as the Palaeogene.