Cuprite

specimen number:
2262023

location:
Bisbee, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Beautiful red acicular crystals of cuprite throughout matrix with calcite. This is the variety of the species known as chalcotrichite. A very choice example from a famous locality.

Bisbee, located in the Mule Mountains of Cochise County, Arizona, is one of the most famous mining districts in the American Southwest. Geologically, the area is characterized by the Warren Mining District, where mineralization is centered on the Sacramento Hill porphyry copper deposit. Massive sulfide replacement bodies and spectacular oxidized zones formed within the Paleozoic Escabrosa Limestone and Martin Formation as metal-rich fluids interacted with the carbonate host rocks. This unique geochemistry produced world-class specimens of azurite, malachite, and cuprite. Historically, the first claims were staked in 1877, leading to the formation of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company. Large-scale underground and open-pit operations, including the massive Lavender Pit, dominated the region for nearly a century. The primary era of industrial mining spanned from 1880 until 1975, when Phelps Dodge Corporation ceased major operations due to the depletion of profitable ore and falling copper prices.

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