Cuprite in Calcite

specimen number:
2133136

location:
New Cornelia Mine, Ajo, Pima Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Scalenohedral crystals of calcite to 1.0 cm in size, these heavily included with red cuprite.

The New Cornelia Mine at Ajo in Pima County, Arizona, is a historic copper mining operation that was developed in the early 20th century and became one of the first large scale open pit copper mines in the United States. The deposit is a porphyry copper system hosted in intrusive rocks, and mining expanded rapidly after 1912 under the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company. The operation produced large amounts of copper along with byproducts such as molybdenum and gold. Mining continued for many decades before closing in the late 20th century, and the site remains an important example of early open pit mining in the American Southwest.

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