Copper

specimen number:
8282284

location:
Ogonja, Seeis, Windhoek, Khomas, Namibia

description:

A wonderful example for the species from this classic old Namibian locality. The specimen consists of a loose grouping of elongated thick terminated crystals of native copper. There are no points of attachment, this is complete all around. Dark red crystalline cuprite is present throughout. Said to have previously been in the collection of South African collector Desmond Sacco. In super condition.

The Onganja Mine (also historically referred to as Ogonja, Emke, or Otjisongati) situated near Seeis northeast of Windhoek in the Khomas Region of Namibia, has a multi-century history featuring indigenous and small-scale operations starting around the 17th century, formal European prospecting and intermittent commercial extraction beginning in the late 19th century, and later secondary dump heap-leaching operations lasting until final closure and flooding in 1995. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the metamorphosed pelites and schists of the Kuiseb Formation inside the Southern Zone of the Damara Orogen. The copper mineralization is structurally controlled, occurring primarily within a complex network of subvertical, north-trending, brecciated quartz-calcite veins that postdate peak regional metamorphism and carry notable concentrations of copper sulfides, native copper, cuprite, malachite, pyrite, and associated accessory minerals.

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