Copper (CU-0029)

specimen number:
9273240

location:
5100 Bench, East Pit, Chino Mine, Santa Rita, Grant Co., New Mexico, USA

description:

An excellent elongated twinned crystal grouping of native copper. Double terminated and in super condition all around.

The Chino Mine, located near Santa Rita in Grant County, New Mexico, is one of the oldest and largest open-pit copper mining operations in the United States, with a history of extraction dating back to Spanish colonial times and intensive industrial production starting in the early twentieth century. Geologically, the deposit is a classic porphyry copper system associated with Laramide-aged intrusive stocks emplaced into Paleozoic carbonate and sedimentary rocks, resulting in extensive hydrothermal alteration and supergene enrichment. The resulting copper-rich orebody has yielded notable specimen material, including historical occurrences of well-formed native copper crystals often exhibiting characteristic spinel-law twinning.

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