Copper

specimen number:
8311564

location:
Wolverine Mine, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA

description:

A grouping of sharp native copper crystals. In super condition all around.

The Wolverine mine, situated near Kearsarge in Houghton County within the historic Keweenaw Peninsula copper district of Michigan, United States, was a highly successful and remarkably efficient underground native copper operation celebrated for its high-grade ore recovery. Geologically, this stratiform deposit is hosted within the Mesoproterozoic-age Portage Lake Volcanics of the Midcontinent Rift System, where mineralizing hydrothermal fluids filled the porous, cellular, and vesicular amygdaloidal top of a specific basaltic lava flow known as the Kearsarge Amygdaloid Lode, precipitating exceptionally rich and uniform amounts of pure native copper and native silver alongside secondary minerals such as epidote, quartz, calcite, and prehnite. Historically, the Wolverine Mining Company was first organized in 1882 to work the lode, but early efforts failed due to poor management and the property closed in 1884. The venture was completely revitalized in 1890 under the skilled corporate leadership of John Stanton, who reorganized it as the Wolverine Copper Mining Company and systematically developed a multi-shaft underground complex that became one of the lowest-cost and most consistent dividend-paying producers in the entire region. The mine worked continuously through the peak of the copper boom, providing vital industrial raw materials and supporting a booming local community until the gradual exhaustion of the rich Kearsarge lode within the property boundaries, combined with post-World War I economic stagnation, forced a permanent cessation of all underground mining operations in 1925.

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