[2] Initially discovered by Sir Arthur Russell in 1954 at Hingston Down Consols mine in Calstock, Cornwall, England,[3] arthurite is formed as a resultant mineral in the oxidation region of some copper deposits by the variation of enargite or arsenopyrite.

[2] Some other minerals belonging to the arthurite group are cobaltarthurite, Co2+Fe3+2(AsO4)2(OH)2•4H2O,[7] whitmoreite Fe2+Fe3+2(PO4)2(OH)2·4H2O, ojuelaite, ZnFe2(AsO4)2(OH)2·4H2O, earlshannonite, (Mn,Fe)Fe2(PO4)2(OH)2·4H2O[2] and bendadaite, Fe2+Fe3+2(AsO4)2(OH)2·4H2O.

General and physical properties of arthurite The first specimen on record was sent to the British Museum of Natural History, Department of Mineralogy by Sir Arthur Russell in 1954.

The sample specimen was collected by Sir Russell from Hingston Down Consols mine in Calstock, Cornwall, England.

The copper ore found at the Chilean site was composed mainly of massive djurleite deposits that strongly oxidized to form goethite, minor cuprite and malachite.

After the war he accepted a position as a research assistant in the mineralogy department of the Oxford University Museum where he added 50 species to the list of minerals known to occur in Great Britain.

[11] Sir Arthur Edward Ian Montagu Russell was born in 1878 and became the 6th Baronet of Swallowfield Park Reading when his older brother died in 1944.