Cyanotrichite

specimen number:
2063754

location:
Maid of Sunshine mine, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Blue acicular crystals of cyanotrichite very rich across the top of matrix. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from David Shannon. I believe that this was collected in the late 1970s or very early 1980s.

Situated in the historic Courtland-Gleeson mining district of Cochise County, Arizona, the Maid of Sunshine Mine operated as a copper producer within a rugged landscape of Paleozoic limestones and intrusive rocks. Oxidation of primary sulfide orebodies created rich secondary copper zones that yielded remarkable mineral specimens, most notably cyanotrichite. This striking hydrous copper aluminum sulfate mineral forms brilliant sky-blue velvet-like crusts and delicate acicular crystal tufts lining cavities in the rock. While commercial mining has long since ceased, the locality remains legendary among mineral collectors for producing some of the finest aesthetic cyanotrichite specimens in American mineralogy.

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