Cuprite

specimen number:
2062844

location:
Chino Pit, Santa Rita, Grant Co., New Mexico, USA

description:
Deep red lustrous neatly stacked crystals of cuprite on matrix. This is in terrific condition and quite interesting.

The Chino Pit in Grant County, New Mexico, is hosted within a major porphyry deposit characterized by intrusive monzonite stocks altering and mineralizing surrounding sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Mining history at Santa Rita spans over two centuries, beginning with Spanish colonial extraction in the early 1800s following local Native American discoveries. Underground operations predominated through the nineteenth century until the early 1900s, when large scale open pit mining and steam shovel extraction were established by the Chino Copper Company. Over the decades, the site became famous among mineral collectors for yielding exceptional specimens of native copper, cuprite, etc. before expanding into one of the largest modern open pit mining operations in the American Southwest.

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