Azurite

specimen number:
2063204

location:
Czar shaft, Bisbee, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

description:
A loose cluster of blue bladed azurite crystals, the largest measuring to 2.0 cm in size. This is crystallized all around, some damage present on what I consider the bottom of the specimen. Sits nicely by itself or display. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The Czar shaft in Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona, was sunk in 1885 by the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company to access rich copper ore bodies hosted within Paleozoic Escabrosa limestone. Geologically, the area features extensive replacement deposits and oxidized secondary enrichment zones created by hydrothermal fluids associated with the nearby Sacremento Hill porphyry intrusion. These conditions produced colorful oxidized copper minerals, making the Czar shaft an underground producer of copper ore along with secondary gold and silver. Operations continued through various phases, including lease work, until mining ceased in 1944. While miners and collectors extracted notable mineral specimens such as cuprite on native copper, azurite, and malachite during its working years, much of the mine was later closed or caved in. Today, preserved specimens from the Czar shaft are valued by collectors and displayed in museums as classic examples of historic Bisbee mineralogy.

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