Copper

specimen number:
2133261

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

description:
Nice branching crystallized grouping of native copper. Good thumbnail for this New Mexico locality. This is in good condition.

The Chino Pit, also known as the Santa Rita Mine, is one of the oldest and largest open-pit copper mines in the world, located in the Central Mining District of Grant County, New Mexico. Geologically, it is a classic porphyry copper deposit where mineral-rich hydrothermal fluids invaded Cretaceous-aged sedimentary rocks and a large granodiorite porphyry stock during the Laramide Orogeny. This process created a vast ore body containing native copper, chalcocite, and chalcopyrite, along with celebrated secondary minerals like turquoise and native copper sheets. Historically, the deposit was known to Native Americans and later worked by the Spanish in the late 1700s, but large-scale industrial mining began in 1910 under the Chino Copper Company. The operation pioneered the use of steam shovels for low-grade ore extraction in the region and saw various owners, including Kennecott Copper Corporation and currently Freeport-McMoRan. While production has been suspended and restarted several times due to economic conditions, the mine remains a centerpiece of American industrial history and continues to be a major producer of copper and molybdenum.

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