What is "murdochite"

n. (context mineralogy English) An isometric-hexoctahedral black mineral containing bromine, chlorine, copper, lead, and oxygen.

Murdochite is a mineral combining lead and copper oxides with formula PbCuO(Cl,Br)(x ≤ 0.5).

It was first discovered in 1953 in the Mammoth-Saint Anthony Mine in Pinal County, Arizona by Percy W. Porter, a mining engineer who handpicked a 401.5-mg sample. Porter would later submit for analysis and it was then that Fred A. Hildebrand suggested that the sample was a new mineral after taking a powder x-ray picture. It was named for Joseph Murdoch (1890–1973), American mineralogist. Murdochite was first suggested to be of a cubic structure. After this suggestion, the term “murdochite-type structure” began to be used when describing a structure that is similar to that of murdochite. Murdochite was later found to be octahedral.