Copper

specimen number:
8311152

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

description:
A fine grouping of elongated twinned native copper crystals coming off a cluster of crystallized native copper. This is in terrific condition all around with no points of attachment. The crystals are very sharp and well defined.

The Chino Pit at Santa Rita in Grant County, New Mexico, is a large open pit copper mine that developed from earlier underground workings dating back to the late 19th century. The deposit is a porphyry copper system hosted in intrusive and volcanic rocks and became one of the first large scale open pit copper mines in the United States in the early 20th century. Mining has produced copper along with byproducts such as molybdenum and gold. The operation has been an important contributor to copper production in the region and remains a significant example of modern large scale mining methods.

Spinel law twinning in copper crystals is a type of crystal twinning where two individuals are joined along a specific crystallographic plane, commonly the octahedral plane in cubic minerals. In native copper, this twinning can produce symmetrical intergrowths that may appear as flattened or mirrored crystal forms.

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