Moolooite mineral
Moolooite is an approved copper oxalate mineral, IMA 1980-082, listed as Cu(C2O4).nH2O in the September 2026 IMA compilation. The variable hydration is retained rather than treating every specimen as a measured monohydrate. It is distinct from elemental copper, other copper oxalates such as wheatleyite, and the heterogeneous ore used in the experiment below. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)
Moolooite-assigned precipitation during fungal culture on weathered copper ore
biomineralization
Microbial
Associated Organisms:
Aspergillus niger (NCBITaxon:5061)
Moolooite-assigned crystals appeared during laboratory culture inoculated with Aspergillus niger Ch4/07 on secondary copper-bearing phases coating weathered chalcopyrite-bearing ore. Powder diffraction and microscopy support mineral formation associated with the culture. Reaction of fungal oxalate with copper released from the substrate is the proposed explanation; the study does not isolate live-cell activity from extracellular metabolites or establish an exclusive enzymatic mechanism. It reports neither an isolated copper product yield nor industrial deployment.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The source reports Ch4/07 isolated from damaged Proconesos marble at Chersonesos, Crimea, with identification based on ITS sequence KF768341. The verified sequence record KF768341.1 labels strain Ch 4/07 and maps to species NCBITaxon:5061; it is not a genome or a strain-specific TaxID. Approximately 5 by 5 mm fragments of secondary copper-bearing surface phases from Voronov Bor ore were immersed in 15 mL liquid Czapek-Dox medium in Petri dishes. The medium contained, in g/L, NaNO3 2.0, KH2PO4 1.0, MgSO4.7H2O 0.5, KCl 0.5, FeSO4.7H2O 0.01 and glucose 30.0. Initial pH was 5.5. Conidia from a ten-day culture on solid Czapek-Dox medium were inoculated; cultivation lasted five to six days at room temperature, reported as 20-25 degrees C, in triplicate. The authors monitored pH but do not report its numerical trajectory or endpoint. Inoculum density, fragment sterilization and matched uninoculated, killed-biomass or cell-free-metabolite controls are not specified for this assay. The natural feed included malachite, azurite and ferruginous material with goethite and a copper/iron-rich X-ray-amorphous component; it was not pure chalcopyrite or a single synthetic copper salt.
The source reports Ch4/07 isolated from damaged Proconesos marble at Chersonesos, Crimea, with identification based on ITS sequence KF768341. The verified sequence record KF768341.1 labels strain Ch 4/07 and maps to species NCBITaxon:5061; it is not a genome or a strain-specific TaxID. Approximately 5 by 5 mm fragments of secondary copper-bearing surface phases from Voronov Bor ore were immersed in 15 mL liquid Czapek-Dox medium in Petri dishes. The medium contained, in g/L, NaNO3 2.0, KH2PO4 1.0, MgSO4.7H2O 0.5, KCl 0.5, FeSO4.7H2O 0.01 and glucose 30.0. Initial pH was 5.5. Conidia from a ten-day culture on solid Czapek-Dox medium were inoculated; cultivation lasted five to six days at room temperature, reported as 20-25 degrees C, in triplicate. The authors monitored pH but do not report its numerical trajectory or endpoint. Inoculum density, fragment sterilization and matched uninoculated, killed-biomass or cell-free-metabolite controls are not specified for this assay. The natural feed included malachite, azurite and ferruginous material with goethite and a copper/iron-rich X-ray-amorphous component; it was not pure chalcopyrite or a single synthetic copper salt.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
frank_kamenetskaya2021
Results on in-vitro formation and Figures 5b-c and 6c-f identify moolooite after five days on the secondary copper-bearing surfaces. The displayed laboratory powder patterns are from malachite-bearing material; morphology and microanalysis provide additional substrate comparisons. Phase identification used powder X-ray diffraction with the ICDD PDF-2 2016 database. Figure 5c also identifies wheatleyite at day five, whereas Figure 5b at day six no longer shows that assigned phase. Other substrate peaks remain, so these patterns do not establish pure moolooite, complete substrate conversion or a phase mass balance.
Partial
Source:
frank_kamenetskaya2021
The original main text writes Cu(C2O4).H2O, while its Supplementary Tables S1-S2 use Cu(C2O4).nH2O. This experiment does not determine specimen-specific water content. Figure 5d Raman data concern the field lichen specimen, not a separate Raman confirmation of every laboratory precipitate. Culture association and phase assignment are supported, but no matched control series or direct oxalate assay isolates the necessity or magnitude of fungal metabolism in this run.
Partial
Source:
frank_kamenetskaya2021
Figure 6 compares crystal morphology on copper-carbonate surfaces with that on ferruginous material. The authors infer inhibition of crystallization by iron from the different shapes and report iron in some crystals by EDX/WDX. Substrate composition varies simultaneously; there is no independently varied iron-dose series or measured formation rate. Iron substitution, surface adsorption and the proposed inhibition therefore remain interpretations rather than demonstrated causal steps.
Context_only
Source:
frank_kamenetskaya2021
The separate field survey collected 25 weathered ore fragments from mine dumps in July 2019. Figures 4, 5a,d and 6a-b locate moolooite in source-identified Lecidea inops thalli and apothecia, with powder diffraction, Raman and microscopy evidence. This is environmental occurrence, not an inoculated lichen experiment or deployment of a recovery process. Other fungi listed in Table S3 do not become experimentally verified causal organisms. Weather-driven dissolution and different supersaturation in field biofilms are proposed explanations of morphology, without a measured field kinetic series.
Context_only
Source:
ncbi_niger
The authority verifies the current species name and taxon identifier; species membership alone does not demonstrate the mineral-forming trait.
Context_only
Source:
genbank_ch407
The deposited ribosomal/ITS sequence labels Ch 4/07 and a marble isolation source, supporting the source's organism provenance. This accession does not independently authenticate the experimental culture or establish a molecular mechanism.
Sources & References
-
ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. Moolooite row, PDF page 147; introductory column definitions and distribution terms.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-11) -
frank_kamenetskaya2021: Frank-Kamenetskaya et al. (2021). Copper oxalate formation by lichens and fungi. Scientific Reports 11:24239. Complete nine-page article, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Figures 1-6 and Supplementary Tables S1-S3.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03600-5 (accessed 2026-10-11) -
ncbi_niger: NCBI Taxonomy 5061. Aspergillus niger, species node.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=5061&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-11) -
genbank_ch407: GenBank KF768341.1. Aspergillus niger strain Ch 4/07 ribosomal RNA and internal transcribed spacer sequence, 598 bases; source qualifiers and taxonomy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KF768341.1 (accessed 2026-10-11)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-11T22:20:35Z |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Added moolooite identity and narrowly scoped fungal culture-associated phase formation, retaining variable hydration, mixed substrates, control gaps and separate environmental occurrence context. |
Record source: data/records/moolooite.yaml